Page 5 of What A Croc
Biting my lip, I waited for Aiden to answer. I wanted him to be true to himself, but didn’t want to push him in any one direction. An issue Levi’s mom and I had strongly disagreed on recently.
Aiden’s eyes hadn’t left the children, and I realized that the little boy who had helped Charlie into her princess gown had donned one of his own. This one in a bright yellow that I recognized from a Disney movie. He twirled happily in a circle, making the skirt of the gown swirl around him.
“Can I be a princess?” Aiden asked softly, and my eyes never left Robert’s, tensely waiting to see how he would respond to the request.
He didn’t miss a beat, didn’t hesitate, when he cheerfully answered, “Of course! Do you have a color princess dress you’d like?”
I trailed behind as they moved over to the chest of clothes that were strung out the sides of the container.
“Everyone, this is Aiden,” Robert introduced him to the group, “this is his first day so let’s make him feel welcome. Aiden, this is Patrick and his sister Rory. And I think I heard Mr. Ryan say this morning that you know Charlie already?”
Charlie nodded her blondish red head emphatically, waving her small hand in greeting, and smiling her bright smile.
Rory swung her pirate sword in the air, and Robert casually eased it away from everyone with a flick of his finger. “I’m a pirate! Patrick and Charlie are princesses. What do you wanna be?”
“Aiden would like to be a princess also,” Robert started straightening the clothes, while simultaneously looking through them. He triumphantly pulled out one pink princess gown and one purple. “Looks like we have these two left to choose from.”
Aiden’s eyes lit up at the sight of the pink dress, and I smiled gratefully at Robert, silently mouthing my thanks. He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement.
Aiden fingered the silky material of the dress. “I like this one.”
“Ah, sleeping beauty is one of my favorite stories,” Robert helped him into the costume. “Pink is my favorite color.”
I filed that piece of information into the file I had already started in my head with this man’s name on it.
I wanted to learn everything there was to know about him. Gorgeous eyes. Sexy smile. Smells like my mom’s house at Christmas. Favorite color is pink.
Oh, andfated mate. Couldn’t forget that vital statistic.
How the fuck was I supposed to concentrate on my new job today, when I had just met my fated mate?
It was going to be a long day.
Chapter Three
Robert
I wouldn’t say I was intentionally avoiding Jackson Sobek, but I wasn’t going out of my way to run into the sexy alpha either. It wasn’t my fault that when he picked up Aiden the first day–the day we realized we were fated!–that I already left work. Since I usually worked the early morning shifts, oftentimes opening the daycare, that meant I usually got off work in the early afternoons.
And it wasn’t my fault that the next morning I had a doctor appointment, and hadn’t made it to work until well after Jackson had dropped Aiden off. It also wasn’t my fault that when Jackson had picked Aiden up that evening I had been in Wyatt’s office, ordering needed supplies, since I had stayed later due to my appointment.
Okay, I had totally been hiding from Jackson, but the supplies had needed to be ordered. Sure, Wyatt or Ryan could have taken care of it, but I had volunteered. Wyatt had given me a bit of side eye, but he hadn’t questioned me too much about my eagerness to order crayons.
It also wasn’t my fault that the next morning I had been busy back in the break room, making a much-needed pot of coffee when Jackson had arrived with Aiden. Was I watching for his car to pull into the parking lot? Possibly. Had I scurried away to the break room to start a fresh pot of coffee as soon as he had pulled in? Maybe.
Somehow, I had managed to avoid the man the rest of the week, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think I was going to be so lucky next week. Avoiding him wasn’t a viable option, and eventually, I knew, we were going to have to talk about what we had discovered.
Sipping my hot mug of coffee from the rocking chair on the porch of my cozy cabin, I sighed loudly into the quiet of the morning, relishing the peacefulness surrounding me. The cabin was a far cry from the penthouse apartment Jane and I had shared in the upper east side of New York city. I actually preferred my warm and inviting cabin, something our marital home would never have been described as.
No, that place had been cold, sterile, lacking in any kind of warmth. Everything had gleamed, all the surfaces shiny and sparkling, but it had never felt like a true home.
Turning my thoughts away from my ex-wife and my old life, I frowned, thinking about the latest problem in my life.
Lying awake the past few nights, I had stared up at my bedroom ceiling, trying to figure out what to do about the problem that was Jackson Sobek.
I was still trying to come to terms from the shock of us touching. Of instantly knowing who this man was to me. My soul had cried out for him, then settled into a sort of calm, pleasant peace that I honestly couldn’t remember ever feeling before. Like I had been missing something for my entire life and hadn’t even known I was missing it. Until it–he,Jackson–was standing in front of me, my hand enveloped in his larger, slightly cold one. The same shock I felt reflected in his greenish brown eyes.
Despite the evidence to the contrary, I was positive Fate must have gotten it wrong. The man–
