I had a brief fling with a man in his mid 40s when I was 18. It was fun, nothing serious at all though, just sex and a few date nights type thing.
Honestly, I think we both found the age gap exciting and taboo.
I look back on it now with no regrets, I don't feel I was taken advantage of at all, and it was very much something I was happy to do.
However I also now look at 18 year old girls and it feels insane to me in a way as they still seem so young. But I know how I felt at the time. I would drive myself to his house, no alcohol or drugs involved etc. I can't have been that much of an outlier - there will be other young people at that age who are happy about having sex with older people, like I was.
I definitely wouldn't have wanted a relationship with him though, although I did properly date some older men, that gap was too much, and we would have struggled to find enough in common to sustain any form of real partnership.