Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 2

just— I mean— I was—"
    "Um, I think you slipped and hit your head," Craig suggested helpfully. "Bad concussion. You should get that looked at."
    Grady's eyes came back into sharp focus, even without the glasses, and he glared up at Craig before he struggled to a sitting position. He seemed to regain his composure faster than Craig had.
    "You were just a crocodile," he stated simply, a frown on his face. His hands slapped down on the grass. Craig tried not to be utterly delighted by the way Grady's nose was scrunching up in confusion. "There was the big crocodile, and then there was you."
    Craig shifted from foot to foot, trying to think of an excuse. He hadn't revealed himself to another human before, even during that one semester of college where he'd mistakenly thought he could stand being away from the water for a week and ended up going for a dip in the pool after hours. Chlorine burned like whoa.
    "I, um, saw you slip. You hit your head?" He offered up again. He really needed to watch more movies or read more books or something, because he was crap at creative storytelling. "Maybe you were hallucinating?"
    Grady looked skeptical. "You just happened to see me fall down a bank. In the middle of the Everglades. In a restricted area."
    "Um. Yes?"
    "Because you were, what? Out jogging?" He arched an eyebrow. It really was quite sexy.
    Craig swallowed. "Yes. Jogging."
    "Naked?"
    Craig looked down at himself.
    "I— like the breeze?" he tried.
    Grady glared up at him in a completely adorable manner. "Yeah, right. What the hell?"
    Craig could feel the natural crocs starting to come back, winding slowly through the water. Human voices should have warned them off, made them skittish, but nothing about this season was normal.
    "How about we get you back in your truck?" Craig asked hopefully, spotting Grady's glasses on the trampled bank. He bent over to retrieve them, then realized Grady was getting a free show as the other man's face turned red, and quickly stood.
    When Craig held them out, Grady just looked at his outstretched hand suspiciously and frowned, arms crossing over his chest. "You were a crocodile."
    "Shouldn't someone be out here with you?" Craig tried again. The larger of the two females was creeping closer behind him and he really didn't like it.
    "My partner called out sick, but I'm still supposed to check in periodically," Grady said defensively. "So don't get any ideas, man."
    Ideas—? Oh.
    "I'm not going to hurt you," Craig said, trying for a grin and shaking the glasses at him encouragingly. It obviously didn't work. Maybe Craig had been out on his houseboat a little too long. Human socialization was totally going on his list of things to do.
    "Whatever," Grady growled. "Look, don't bullshit me. I know what I saw and you clearly couldn't lie your way out of a paper bag—"
    "What does that even mean?" Craig paused, hand with the glasses dropping to his mud-covered thigh.
    Grady rubbed his forehead. "I don't care what it means, because you were just a crocodile !"
    The shout took Craig off-guard and he jumped. A splash in the river behind him was all the warning he had as he realized the big male was back for a fight.
    "Time to go," he said as he ran forward, scooping an angry Grady up with an arm under his shoulders and one under his knees, before he high-tailed it for the truck bed. Craig didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that they were being chased.
    Forget mating season. It totally made everyone crazy.
    He wasn't supernaturally strong, really, but his muscles from his croc shape seemed to translate to his human form a bit, so vaulting up into the truck bed with Grady cradled in his arms wasn't that hard when his heart was threatening to beat right out of his chest.
    The vehicle lurched dangerously to the side as the other male croc rammed the rear tire. Craig thought he had it covered, but his feet were muddy and the truck bed dusty with baked dirt, and the impact sent his legs right out from under him. He landed on his butt with a pained grunt as Grady's weight knocked the air from his lungs.
    "Fuck my life, what was that?" Grady demanded, voice high and panicked right in Craig's ear, limbs flailing. "I've never heard of a crocodile attacking a truck!"
    Grady's knee was in a very uncomfortable place. Craig made a noise only dolphins could hear.
    "Oh, shit! Sorry!" Grady rolled off of Craig and onto his knees, hissing when his injured ankle struck the metal bed of the truck.
    "You