Online Lovers by Sheila Rose Page B

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                  Surprisingly, her profile had a few hits, her preferences as to what she was looking for in a man. She sorted through them, another cool feature that the website had divided their messages into what they seemed concerned with. More than half of the messages she got were about how nice she looked in her profile picture and she thought that, although it was a nice thing to start with, these were guys that weren't worth her time. She clearly stated in her profile that she only wanted serious partners to reach out to her and dumped the messages into the virtual trash bin.
                 
                  The other half of the messages were about how some of the men wanted to meet up with her, stating their own preferences in  regards to dating and intimacy. She checked every single profile, to make sure that they weren't pulling her leg. For the most part, they weren't, but a few embellished their interests to fit what she was looking for and those were promptly trashed.
                 
                  It was like trying to find the right guy in the real world. There was always a catch with going out with them that Rachel never thought to take into account. Instead, she just went with it and paid the price when a guy started calling her 'mommy'...but this time would be different. She was going to screen each and every one of these requests if it killed her, not just because she needed to, but because it's what she owed herself. She wanted to find Mr. Right? She was going to have to work for the chance to meet him.
                 
                  It took her a good half an hour before she found three potential candidates. They had similar preferences.
                 
                  ***
                 
                  The chatting system that 'Love Hookups' had was simplistic and easy to access. Rachel found, after clicking through some of the FAQs, that she could access it through her desktop even if she wasn't on the site. It was a nice feature to have and gave her a tool to help her get to know these men better.
                 
                  Rachel hadn't been as careful as she wanted to be about potential dates in the real world. Most of the guys she hooked up with were fine on the surface, but showed their true colors whenever they got into bed with her. She knew that she wasn't going to make the same mistake as before.
                 
                  ***
                 
                  Her first date was with Richard. From what he wrote on his profile, he had expensive tastes that ranged from going to as many theater productions as he could to sampling some of the rarest cuisine in the world. He was very charming during their chats, teasing her a bit with smart humor and a playfulness that she could have never thought would come from such a serious-looking man.
                 
                  Richard's profile picture was enough to keep her interested. He was attractive, no doubt about it, and seemed to know what kind  of effect he had on people. The picture looked like something out of a magazine, his curly hair faded to perfection, edge up crisp, just a bit of stubble on his cheeks, and a smirk on his lips. Richard looked straight into the camera, his eyes a deep hazel that were more intense than anything Rachel had seen before.
                 
                  She messaged him first, asking if he wanted to get together one evening after she finished work. He responded almost immediately and said that he'd be honored to take her to dinner. They worked together to come up with the perfect restaurant for their first date. Rachel understood that Richard would lean towards the more pricey and that was okay with her. It would