The bar was unusually busy for midweek, thanks to the local colleges coming back into session. A seemingly-normal Thursday turned into a long weekend party that lasted until they couldn't party anymore. It was amazing for business and craptastic for my nerves. But at least the crowd was dying down a bit. It would pick up again in a few hours but, for the moment, I had time to breathe before round two, the one heavily skewed to the side of college kids, showed up.

College kids tended not to know how to handle their drinking and I often had to cut them off which led to altercations I would inevitably need to get in the middle of. At least my bouncers all agreed to work extra shifts this week.

Not that the money was an issue. I had far exceeded all my expectations from when I first made up my mind to make Pete’s a reality. At the time, I’d assumed I would fail like the three establishments that had owned the building before I had, and be out within five years. But I had to do it. For Pete.

Unlike the building’s previous tenants, I wasn’t in it to get rich quick, taking advantage of the lack of discernment so many college kids had when it came to booze. No, I had decided from the get go that I wasn’t going to create a college hang-out, although college kids were always welcome. I wanted a local neighborhood-type vibe, and I think I managed it pretty well. I considered it a matter of pride that no one left my establishment drunk and got behind the wheel of the car—my security team made sure of that.

“Pete.” Speaking of security… Of course it was Harry on the other end of my earpiece. The head of my security team thought it was hilarious to call me Pete. It wasn’t, but his smile reached his eyes every time he did it.

“Pete’s not here. This is Larry. What can a I do ya for?” I picked up the rack of glasses and brought them up front to replenish those we’d already depleted, thanks to the happy hour rush.

“Remember that guy, the one who smells like cinnamon and allspice?” he sang. He was having far too much fun for such a crazy busy night.

“Yes?” I bit out a little harsher than necessary.

He was talking about the omega Josiah had brought in on a couple of occasions, Ethan. He was the father of a friend of Josiah’s sister, and hotter than sin. He was also very married, and I never dipped my toe into another man’s water. Ever. I’d only mentioned him to Harry one time, when he was razzing me about never finding any of the omegas who walked into the place hot. It was a mistake. Now Harry thought he should bring it up at random to “keep things from getting boring.”

As if this place were ever boring.

“Well, he just walked in. Alone. And before you ask—he has no ring on.” Harry was an ass.

I began to wipe the glasses and put them where they belonged, completely ignoring his sorry ass. In his own way, he meant well and I chose to believe that he had not, in fact, scented him but only mentioned his scent to agitate me.

“Larry.” Marc, the main bartender for the night, passed by me with a plate of food. “What did those glasses ever do to you?”

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“You’re putting the glasses down pretty forcefully, big dog.” He looked up as the kitchen bell dinged and it clicked in my head what he meant. Damn. What was it about Ethan that had gotten so deep under my skin? Especially since I’d only seen him a handful of times, and even then only talked to him for maybe five minutes total. The longest conversation I’d had with him was at Josiah’s handfasting ceremony, and before we said more than basic greetings Sam asked me to help her with her dog. There was no way I’d ever turn down that little girl’s requests.

“Well, you know. They were sassing me again.” I finished the last few glasses.

“I’ve talked about that with them more than once tonight.” He leaned in conspiratorially, “It’s the highball’s influence.”

“It’s always the highball.” I chuckled as I grabbed the empty tray off the counter, wiping the drops of water it left with my towel. “So, you sure you’re good tonight?”

“Yeah, I’m good. You do that mingle with the crowd crap you like to do, and I’ll be here popping the tops off bad beers and bringing in the dollars.” He headed to a new customer at the bar.

Truth be told, he probably could use me behind the bar. There was a steady flow of people, although now that happy hour was over, the crowd was at more of a simmer. But I stashed the rack in the back and put another tray into the dishwasher. Daniel, my back of the house, was on break but would be able to attend to them when he got back. Daniel had been friends with Pete and was the only one in the bar who knew Pete wasn’t just a made-up name for the business. He was a good guy, but the bar was not the ideal job for him. He preferred to do dishes and stock rather than interact with drunks. Not that I could blame him. Not after what happened all those years ago.

I shook the serious turn my thoughts had taken from my head and slapped on my happy go lucky face before heading out into the fray.

It didn't take long before Ethan caught my eye. He was talking to someone else, but I couldn’t tell who from the back of his head. Ethan was laughing away, and I found myself needing to know what they were laughing about. I was pretty sure it wasn’t his husband given the man’s dark hair and that Ethan’s little angel of a daughter had very blond hair. He did look familiar, though, at least his head did. Probably a regular.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I wandered over there all nonchalant. Or more accurately, made a beeline for their small hightop that only had two chairs.

As I approached the table, Ethan’s smile widened as he waved me over. At least I didn’t look as unhinged as I felt. What was it about that omega? His scent hit me before I reached the table, all cinnamon and allspice, but with it came a second, just as delicious, scent of Macintosh and cloves. Freaking A, the two of them together smelled like a homemade apple pie and pushed all the other scents in the room down.

Just as the scents hit me and sent a very inappropriate message to my cock, the second man turned to face me and fuck if he didn’t blush. I’d seen him before at Sam’s family’s handfasting. How had I not scented him before? Although to be fair, it had been high pollen season, so my nose didn’t work for shit.

I’d never been an alpha who only sought the company of omegas. I enjoyed my times with omegas plenty, but I enjoyed my dates with betas and other alphas just as much, even if being out with an alpha gave me all kinds of weird looks. People needed to get over themselves.

“Hi,” I said lamely as I reached the table, hoping they hadn’t noticed my boner.

“Hey.” Ethan greeted me with a smile that could light up a room. Damn, he was sexy. And true to Harry’s words, he wasn’t sporting a ring. Of course, he was sitting with another alpha, so there was that. “Ryan. This is the owner.”

“Nice to meet you, Pete.” He held out his hand.

I took it, holding it in twice as long as socially acceptable. “The name’s Larry.”

He nodded, looking from our joined hands to my face and back again with that adorable blush.

“Ryan is a PE teacher,” Ethan interjected, and I dropped Ryan’s hand a little too quickly. What was wrong with me? I was in a room filled with a ton of attractive men all the freaking time, but here, with these two, I was acting like a weirdo.

“Oh, yeah?” I grabbed a seat from the table behind us, not even asking if anyone was using it. I didn’t even care. “Which school?”

“Mapleville,” he answered and I waited for the rest of the list but none came.

“So you’re a unicorn.” I raised my hand to catch Rachel’s eye and nodded to Ethan’s glass. He either had a soda or a soda and something, but Rachel would get the hint and bring me my root beer. “I thought dedicated gym teachers were a relic of the past.”

“Oh, they very much are.” Ryan’s shoulders relaxed slightly. I’d been so into my own head, I’d missed he was nervous. At least he was relaxed now. “The only reason I have one of those glorious full time jobs of days of old is because someone bequeathed a shit ton of money to guarantee the job would never be on the chopping block. I guess the PE teacher back then made a difference in the woman’s life and she left a ton of money. It’s good for the kids, too. I incorporate a lot of more traditionally occupational therapy things into my program. That helps the kids a lot.”

And from there Ryan explained all about his job and how he was more than a gym teacher, which I also learned was not something gym teachers liked to be called anymore, as a profession. Apparently PE teacher or Health and Physical Education Specialist were the now acceptable terms. Not that he was one of those snooty guys, referring to himself as a gym teacher once just to infuse humor into his story.

I just sat there in rapt attention as Ryan explained his job with such passion. I knew that OT was a huge thing at Mapleville and knew a little about it. Growing up, a friend of mine had cerebral palsy, and had both physical and occupational therapy through school. But to hear him explain how the OT helped those dyslexic kids with their reading blew my mind. I barely knew the man, but I knew right then and there the kids at that school were lucky to have him.

Ethan must have been equally as impressed. He leaned onto the table to get closer as Ryan continued talking about his job as if it were the most important one on the planet. To those kids, it probably was.

I’d never really been into hot, older alphas before, tending to stick with people around my age. But the more he spoke, the more I wanted him, and not in the sweet, ‘let’s got out to dinner’ way. I wanted to sink inside him and hear him scream my name. Possibly as he sunk into Ethan. I was officially fucked. Those kinds of thoughts were not ones I should be having, period. Much less with two guys I only sort of knew, and most certainly not as Ryan talked about his job. While on a date with Ethan. That I had interrupted. Well fuck, I was an asshole. I should probably get out of here.

“So what do you think?” Ethan’s hand settled onto my shoulder. “You game?”

Eff. I’d missed something.

“Game?” I asked, not even pretending to hide that I completely spaced out.

“I was telling Ryan I thought maybe we should get a tour of this place.”

“A tour?”

“Yes, a tour.” Ryan leaned in, suddenly showing his alphaness in a way he hadn’t earlier. Confidence looked good on him. “You know, of any rooms that might be a little more private?”

Just like that I was up, holding out my hands for both men. It was an awful idea. My brain knew this quite well. But there was no way I was going to be able to turn down an offer like that. Even if they were only talking handjobs in the back hallway, I was four hundred percent in. I very much hoped they didn’t mean handjobs in the hallway, though. If I was going to break my “don’t play where you eat” rule—which I was definitely planning to—I wanted it to be over the top, I wish I had this on film so I could watch it over and over again hot.

We walked down the small hallway toward my office.

“This is the prep-room. Daniel is in there doing dishes.” I emphasized Daniel’s name before asking, “Any interest in seeing it?”

Both men gave a subtle shake of their head.

“This is the storeroom.” I pointed to the door on the left. “Want a gander?”

“Depends,” Ryan started. “Is anyone in there?”

“Why, no, no one is,” I said with a wink.

“Then lead the way,” Ethan said, already reaching for the door knob.

“Ethan?” I asked, and he froze.

“Uh huh.” He turned to face me like a deer in the headlights. Crap. What was he thinking I was going to say?

“You aren’t wearing a ring.” I needed to know if he was still married. As much as it would pain me to not continue, marriage was a deal breaker for me, and something I should’ve asked about before letting my hormones take over.

“No, I’m not. It’s final.” I didn’t ask him to elaborate, deciding instead to seal my lips over his as we stumbled into the storeroom. Ryan followed us, his front pressed against me, and his willingness to be there poking me in the back.