What A Croc

4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Jackson

There was no doubt about it. The mouth-watering naked omega had been avoiding me for the last week. I’d known it, and since I figured we both needed a minute to wrap our heads around the fact that we were fated mates, I had given him his space the first day or two. After the third day, I had asked the daycare aide where Robert was. It had always been some excuse. He was there, just busy in another part of the building.

Aiden had told me all about his days, and it had been a lot of Mr. Robert this and Mr. Robert that–my son was definitely a fan of the older omega–which told me Robert was making a concentrated effort to avoid me.

Brendan and Ryan had offered to watch Aiden this morning to give me a chance to shift. Brendan was turning into a good friend, more than just a boss, and I was more than eager to take him up on his offer to watch Aiden.

I hadn’t realized how difficult it was going to be for me to shift now that I was a single parent without much support. I’d been lucky to always have my family, and Levi’s, close by, willing and more than happy to watch Aiden so I could get my shifting time in.

It would have been easier if Aiden was a shifter too, but so far, he had never shown any inclination to shift. Had he been a shifter, he would have had his first shift by now. Levi had been a fully human omega, and we had always known there was a fifty-fifty chance that any children we had might be a non-shifter.

Since I felt he was much too young to come with me while I enjoyed my shifted form, I was learning to rely on my new friends when I needed to let my croc loose.

What I hadn’t counted on was my croc losing his ever-loving mind over the delectable scent that had drifted on the breeze. We’d been swimming just under the surface when we’d seen the beautiful, graceful gazelle tiptoe its way to the edge of the water to take a drink. We’d had no plans to bother the other shifter.

Then the wind had shifted, and his scent had washed over me, and I hadn’t been able to control myself. I needed to have him !

It wasn’t until I had shifted into my human form, gaining some control back over my croc, that I realized the warm spices I smelled on the air were tantalizingly familiar.

Robert.

No wonder my croc had lost his head.

Thank the Goddess I had gained control of him before he had done any damage to the poor little gazelle. Not that we stood a chance. My croc could move quickly, up to twenty or so miles an hour if we pushed it, but Robert’s gazelle had been much, much faster. There was no way we were going to catch up to him.

Instead, I had gone back for my clothes that I’d left on a rock, dressed quickly, then followed his scent until I had found him. Panting, bent over, and so very, very naked.

My cock had instantly taken notice of our omega and all his pale, soft looking skin.

Robert was pretty, beyond sexy, and I wanted him. Desire had raced through me so quickly it had nearly stolen the air from my lungs. I hadn’t felt it in so long–since Levi had died–and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I had ever felt desire as strong for even my mate as much as I felt for Robert.

It was nearly all-consuming and I needed to get a handle on it before I did something that I would regret.

Like charging him from the water, teeth snapping? My croc questioned, his voice pure innocence .

Asshole , I remarked back, letting him know I was not happy with his behavior. At all. That bad behavior is all on you.

Couldn’t help it. Smells yummy! Soooo yummy! Want!

Asshole, I repeated.

I did my best to be respectful and keep my eyes on Robert’s face, and not anywhere south of his neck. But damn, it was hard.

Just like your dick , my croc snarked.

Ignoring him, I decided to get straight to the issue with Robert. “We need to talk.”

His light brown eyes searched mine for the barest of seconds, before resignation clouded them. “You might as well come in.”

He didn’t sound one bit happy about inviting me in, but he turned and marched up the steps to his porch, back rigid and head held high.

And damn if I couldn’t keep my eyes off his nicely rounded, slightly jiggling ass. I didn’t miss the way his hips sashayed from side to side either, giving those luscious mounds just a bit of added wiggle. For a man his age, his ass was mouthwatering and had me wanting to take a small bite out of it. Firmly muscled, round, and all the jiggle.

My cock throbbed in my suddenly too tight jeans, and I casually palmed it, pushing it down, then followed Robert into his home .

Stepping over the threshold, I was just in time to catch sight of Robert’s retreating backside as he disappeared through a doorway to the left, shutting the door with enough force to make me wince. In the stillness, the sound of the lock clicking was loud and final.

Closing the front door behind me, I took stock of my mate’s home. It wasn’t overly large, but it was neat and tidy. The main living area was one large room, with a small kitchen and dining area to the right. A stone fireplace was the main focal point, a television mounted above it, and a cozy seating area in front of it. Soft looking throw blankets were neatly folded across the back of the sofa and matching recliner. Tucked into a corner was a stationary bike that actually looked like it might be used. At least there were no clothes hanging off it, or books stacked on the seat.

To the left were three doors, two of which were closed. The middle door was open and I could see it was a bathroom, leaving me to assume the other rooms were likely bedrooms. It was a nice home, exuding warmth, and Robert’s scent clung faintly to the room, making all my senses tingle.

There were framed photos neatly lined up on the fireplace mantle, and my body naturally gravitated towards them, wanting to get a glimpse into my mate’s life. Anything that would tell me more about the man.

I smiled when I saw most of them were of Wyatt’s daughter, Julianna. One was of a proudly smiling Robert, holding the child when she was what appeared to be just a few months old. Robert was a bit plumper in the photo, his face a little rounder, but it didn’t detract from his gorgeous features.

Picking one of the frames up, I peered at it. It was of a much, much younger Robert. He looked to be in his early twenties, holding a chubby cheeked, grinning baby that had to be Wyatt. My Goddess the man had been beautiful in the prime of his youth. But I much preferred the version of him he was today. Gray hairs and laugh lines, exuding a gentle confidence he was lacking in the photo.

The soft padding of footsteps had my head glancing up guiltily from my nosiness, and I gently set the photo back in its place. Robert stood there in soft looking gray sweatpants and a slightly oversized white t-shirt. His feet were bare, his hair mussed from his run, or pulling on his clothes hastily.

Either way, I liked it. All of it. The bare feet, the mussed hair, the shirt that clung to his slightly rounded belly and softness in all the right places. And those gray sweatpants that left absolutely nothing of his omega cock to the imagination.

My mouth watered at the sight. Not just from the slim outline of his cock that I could see, but from just the sight of him . The warm spices of his scent drifted to me, barely there in the space between us, just enough to tease my nostrils with their allure .

Robert shifted from one bare foot to the other, his hands fluttering like he wasn’t sure what to do with them, before he wrapped them around his waist tightly. “Do you want to sit down? Something to drink? I need…something. Coffee.”

Truthfully, the man probably needed something way stronger than coffee; I know I did.

“Coffee would be great,” I told him softly, “but don’t go to any trouble.”

He shrugged, moving gracefully over to the kitchen area. “It’s a K-cup, no trouble. I literally just push a button.”

He pulled two cups over to the coffee machine and busied himself with getting the brew going.

“Where’s Aiden?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at me. He sat the freshly brewed cup of steaming coffee in front of me on the counter that served as an additional eating area. “Cream or sugar? I have some flavored creamers if you want them.”

“Black for me, thanks,” I took a sip of the coffee, letting the warmth and richness settle my nerves. “Aiden is with Brendan and Ryan. They offered to watch him so I could get some shifting time in.”

He nodded, then poured a generous amount of some kind of creamer into his mug, before pushing the button on the machine. It whirled noisily while he returned the creamer to the fridge. Finally, he finished fiddling with things that didn’t need fiddled with and leaned up against the counter with his mug in hand.

Taking a seat at one of the barstools, I figured we both needed the small distance between us.

“You don’t take him to shift with you?”

Taking another sip of the rich brew, I smiled against the rim of the stoneware mug before answering. If Robert wanted to play the avoidance game, I could play all day. I had already shot off a quick text to Brendan and told him I was dealing with a personal issue and asked if they minded watching Aiden a bit longer. His reply had been quick and assured me I was fine to take all the time I needed. While chiding me that I hadn’t been in town long enough to have personal issues and I’d better plan spilling all the details when I got there.

“Aiden isn’t a shifter,” I told him softly, “at least as far as we can determine. Levi, my–” well, fuck. What did I call Levi? In any other circumstance, I would refer to him as my mate. But Levi was gone, and Robert wasn’t just anyone. He wasn’t someone who had known Levi, known us as a couple. He wasn’t a stranger on the street, who I would never see again, and didn’t have to follow up with an explanation that Levi was dead.

Robert was my fated mate, and that meant something, even if we had yet to figure out exactly what.

Taking a breath, I said, “Levi was my mate. He was human, and it looks like Aiden likely is a fully human alpha. No crocodile in him. Of course, he could be a late bloomer, but I don’t think so.” Shifters had an underlying scent about them that humans lacked, one that had been missing from Aiden since birth.

Robert nodded, “I thought he might be. Fully human, I mean.”

Setting my cup down on the bar, I ran a finger over the rim. “I’m sorry for scaring you earlier.”

He swallowed hard, and my eyes locked on the pulse fluttering in his neck. He blinked his light brown eyes at me, his pupils dilating the slightest bit. Just enough to tell me that he was just as affected by my presence as I was of his. “Do you do that often? Attack people in your shifted form? Because I gotta tell you, it won’t go over well in Sweet Alps.”

Shaking my head, I assured him that wasn’t my normal behavior. “I don’t. I think your scent just affected my croc and, well…” I trailed off, sure I didn’t need to finish the sentence.

“Can’t say I’ve ever had my scent affect anyone like that before.” He blushed, a pretty pink darkening his cheekbones above his barely there stubble. “But you know, this…we…us...we’re not going to work. It’s just not going to happen. Fate missed the mark this time.”

Pursing my lips together tightly, I stubbornly raised my chin a notch. “So, that’s it, then? Just like that, it’s a no? Not even gonna give us a chance, huh? Can I ask why? ”

Robert gaped at me with wide, astonished eyes, before a strangled sound, somewhere between a gasp, laugh, and a snort escaped his lips. His very kissable looking lips. Waving a hand between us, he stated, “We would never work. Fate got it seriously wrong. Maybe it was just…I don’t know, static electricity or something. We just shocked each other, that’s all. Nothing more.”

“You know good and well what it was,” I growled roughly.

He seemed to fold a little into himself, becoming smaller before my eyes. “It doesn’t matter. We will obviously never work. I think it best if we both just…”

“Just?” I prodded, when he didn’t seem inclined to finish his sentence.

He huffed a small grunt. “Just act like it didn’t happen and go our separate ways. Keep things professional between us. I can just make sure one of the other aides is there in the morning when you drop Aiden off, and I’m gone by the time you pick him up most days. So, it should be easy.”

Did this enticing man think I was honestly going to just let him go so easily?

Looking at his hunched shoulders, the way his arms were once again wrapped tightly around his waist, it appeared that was exactly what my little gazelle thought was going to happen .

Newsflash for him, he wasn’t running this show. While I one hundred percent absolutely understood the magnificent power omegas yielded over alphas, he wasn’t getting the final say in this.

Sliding effortlessly off the stool, I stood to my full height and stalked over to stand in front of him. Gasping, he looked up into my eyes, his own wide. His chest was moving rapidly under the soft material of his t-shirt but it wasn’t fear I smelled on him. No, the pheromones he was putting off were anything but fear.

Arousal. Need. Desire.

Everything I was feeling for him.

The man was a lunatic if he thought I–we–were just going to walk away from the crackling energy between us.

“Give me one good reason,” I demanded, though my voice was low, steady, soft. Husky and throaty.

He blinked once, twice, then whispered, “Our age. I’m way too old for you.”

Throwing back my head, I laughed heartily, the sound filling the silence of his house. “Oh, Robert, that is not an obstacle at all. In fact,” I tilted his chin up with one finger, not allowing him to look away from my steady gaze when he tried, “I like my omegas older. Love it, in fact. Always have. Even in school, omegas my age bored me silly. I was the freshman alpha dating the senior omegas. Levi was ten years older than me. ”

He swallowed hard, the movement of his Adam’s apple holding my attention. I could see his pulse point fluttering, like a hummingbird, too rapid. “I’m probably fifteen years older than you.”

“I’m thirty-five,” I told him, keeping a tight rein on my need to run my nose along that fluttering pulse of his and breathe in his scent even more than I was already doing.

He snorted, “And I’m forty-nine. Too old for you.”

“How about you let me decide that,” I growled and he shivered, his pupils dilating even more. “One dinner. Let me take you on one date, and then if you still think we aren’t a good match, I’ll walk away.”

“It’s a waste of time,” he mumbled, but his voice lacked his earlier conviction, and I tried not to smile.

“No more a waste than you tossing what could be something wonderful away, without us even getting to know each other,” I countered.

He shook his head, “What could I possibly have to even offer you, Jackson? I’m a mess! I’m newly divorced–like seriously, the ink is barely dry on the papers. My wife and I were together for a long time. A long fucking time. I barely know my son. I. Am. A. Mess.”

There was a whole lot of baggage to unpack in those sentences, but I came with my own set of luggage. However, one thing he said caught my attention and I had to ask. “Are you not attracted to men? ”

It would really suck to find my fated mate, only to discover he preferred women over men. I briefly wondered if that was one of his reasons for saying we wouldn’t work, but I was positive I had seen interest in his eyes.

His tongue darted out and he wet his bottom lip, before he gave a short nod. “I like men.” He cleared his throat, “I’m more attracted to the person, than their sex. Though I do question why on earth I was ever attracted to Jane.” The last was said softly, under his breath, and I surmised that Jane was his ex-wife. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a man, though, but yes, I like them.”

“Are you attracted to me?” The question rumbled out of me, dark and needy.

He swallowed hard. “I don’t even know you.”

That hadn’t been the question, but I didn’t call him on his evasion.

“So get to know me,” I pushed. “One dinner, Robert. Please.”

“Why?” he demanded sharply. “Why does it even matter? I’m giving you an easy out, Jackson. Trust me, you should probably take it. I’m too old for you, my life is a mess, and I’m…too old for you.” He repeated, obviously out of reasons. He did seem to be stuck on our age difference.

“You keep saying that. You’re the only one making our ages an issue. But I’ll tell you why it matters. ”

Robert gazed at me with wide eyes, full of emotions I didn’t know how to read from him yet, but one day I would. I would know everything there was to know about this man. “Because you make me feel things I haven’t felt in over four years, Robert. You make me feel , period. And I was pretty sure I would never feel anything ever again. Not desire, not want, or need, or even the energy it would take to get to know someone. But I feel when I’m near you. I desire. I want. I need .”

The air whooshed from his lungs with a small, squeaked, “Oh.”

Dipping my head down, close enough to feel the heated breath escaping between his perfectly bowed lips, I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I needed to taste this man. Needed to feel his mouth on mine, his lips brushing against mine. Needed to breathe him in so I could live.

“I’m going to kiss you now, Robert. And on Friday night, I’m going to take you on a proper date. One kiss. One date. That’s all I’m asking from you.”

“Yes.” The word was so quiet, I barely heard it. I thought for a moment that I imagined it in my head, just wishful thinking on my part.

But then he tilted his head up, his light brown eyes closing, his lips parting in anticipation and a silent invitation.

My mouth covered his softly, the first touch shocking and electric, and so much more than I had expected it to be. Robert moaned softly, the sound shooting straight to my cock, and I wanted to pull him to me, mold his body to mine tightly, and grind against him.

Slowly. I needed to go slow around my gazelle. Holding myself in check, I resisted all the things I wanted to do and let myself get lost in the wonder of our first kiss. His lips parted under mine, my tongue sweeping in to taste him.

Cinnamon and nutmeg. Wet heat. Untapped need.

I had kissed a lot of omegas before meeting Levi. I had kissed none since losing Levi.

This kiss, this first kiss with Robert, surpassed every kiss that had come before it.

Even the kisses between Levi and me paled in comparison, and that realization shook me to my core.

Breaking the kiss, we stared at each other in silence, chests heaving as the need for air hit us both. Robert looked as dazed as I felt.

“Friday night, Robert,” I whispered, thumbing his kiss swollen lower lip.

He nodded, his eyes glazed, dazed and wide, but he agreed. “Friday night. One date. One.”

Stubborn omega. If the man thought I was letting him go after that kiss, he was fooling himself.

He was my fated and he would be mine.