Chapter 2
2
T he human bartender was as insufferable as ever.
What right did he have to be—to be grinning like that at Bracken’s unexpected arrival?
He should be shocked!
Ashamed!
Horrified!
Really, after all he’d done, Tanner should be hiding under that bar, not traipsing about like the cock of the walk.
Of course, Tanner didn’t know what he’d done.
Not yet.
But still.
The traipsing.
The bar looked the same as before, a backwater dive with little to no charm.
Still, Bracken supposed it was clean enough.
And the decor was…
adequate, all dark wooden furniture and soft, warm lighting.
Bracken folded his hands demurely on his lap as Tanner set the small teacup of dewdrops in front of him.
He was pleased to be affecting a certain disinterest, but in reality Bracken’s stomach was roiling, and he was unsure if he could sip the beverage and keep it down.
The uncertainty made him snippy.
“I assume it’s on the house. Seeing as how you took advantage of me and I never heard from you again.”
Tanner leaned over the bar again, his forearms resting mere inches from Bracken’s drink.
The human’s biceps bulged obscenely with the gesture.
Or at least, Bracken assumed they did.
They were hidden by the hideous flannel Tanner was wearing.
But Bracken remembered.
Oh, how he remembered.
Tanner started ticking off on his fingers.
“One: You weren’t impaired that night. And two: See, I would have called, but you slipped out in the wee hours of the morning and didn’t leave your number.”
Ah, yes.
That.
Bracken cleared his throat.
Delicately, of course.
He wasn’t some oafish bar thug, not like the rest of the rabble that patronized this shoddy establishment.
“I’m surprised you’re still here, actually,” he said lightly.
“Transient types, bartenders.”
Bracken had been, in truth, horrified by the possibility that Tanner might have disappeared in the intervening months since their last encounter.
But that was his own business.
Tanner had the audacity to look amused.
“I own the place.”
Damn it.
Bracken should have known.
He refused to let his surprise show—that would give Tanner too much satisfaction.
Bracken clucked his tongue instead.
“Oh, that’s really too bad. I’ve heard a large percentage of restaurants fail in the first year.”
Tanner started grinning again.
“Good thing we don’t serve food. And that we’ve already been open for five.”
Bracken gave him a falsely sympathetic look.
“And you still have to tend the place yourself? Can you even afford to give yourself a salary?”
Tanner laughed, deep and rich and not at all enticing.
“I make do.”
Sweet cherry blossoms.
Had Bracken really slept with this—this mortal ?
He’d been so very stupid that night, lured in by the promise of big hands and strong arms and a thick cock to match.
And yes, of course Tanner was technically handsome.
Very handsome, in fact, if one liked their men large and rugged and bearded, with abundant dark hair and an inviting grin.
Which Bracken, of course, did not.
But Bracken had been strangely fascinated by the bartender.
(Or bar owner , as it were.
) Tanner was…
confident.
And while the fae version of confidence was a self-aware kind of haughtiness, Tanner’s confidence was this odd, indifferent version.
He wasn’t overly proud of himself; he didn’t border on arrogant.
He was just…
certain.
Like he knew for a fact that he could make a person feel good and had a way of making sure that person knew it too.
And he had.
Oh gods, had he ever?
He’d coaxed Bracken’s body into absurdly pliant submission.
He’d bent and twisted him and driven into him like he’d had a right to.
He’d whispered soft, sweet things that Bracken should have by all rights detested, and then he’d made Bracken come more times than he’d thought himself capable.
But no, Bracken couldn’t think about it now, not even a little.
It was making him too horny.
Stupid, terrible, wretched hormones.
Bracken wished he had the kind that made him abhor touch.
Then he could have been as bitchy as he wanted with no consequence.
But instead he had the kind that made him want to strip Tanner’s pants off and ride the human’s cock until it fell right off.
Which would be a shame because it was a very nice one.
If one liked thick, veiny human cocks.
Which Bracken, of course, did not .
It was time to get down to business.
They couldn’t continue facing off at this counter for endless hours.
Mostly because Tanner’s rich human scent was wafting over, and it was doing annoying things to Bracken’s inner bits.
Most fae smelled like delicate things—flowers or tender fruits—but Tanner smelled warm and manly and…
good.
No, not good.
Terrible.
Bracken took the smallest sip of his dewdrops that he could manage, needing something to wet his dry mouth.
“What do you know about fae omegas?”
The question finally had Tanner dropping his incessant grin.
His dark brow furrowed in thought.
“Not much at all, I guess. Humans don’t have those designations, and not many fae come through here.”
Uneducated, unknowledgeable brute.
Bracken scowled, lowering his voice despite the fact that no one was near enough to hear them.
“You didn’t notice the self-lubrication?” he hissed.
Tanner shrugged his stupidly broad shoulders.
“You’re a different species. There’s always bound to be…unique attributes.”
Gods, and now the human’s face was doing that thing again.
Bracken slapped a hand on the bar.
“Stop looking smug .”
“I’m not.” Despite his words, Tanner’s lips curled into a small smirk.
“Just…fond memories.”
“They won’t be so fond in a moment,” Bracken warned.
Tanner’s smirk gave way to a confused sort of look.
He cocked his head.
Bracken picked up his teacup.
Set it down again.
“Did you know fae omegas are capable of carrying children?”
Tanner straightened from his lean immediately.
“I might have heard that somewhere.”
“And do you recall whether we used any sort of protection?”
The blank look on Tanner’s face might have been amusing, if Bracken wasn’t so nervous.
“You told me you had an amulet.”
“It was for protection against illness .” Bracken couldn’t help sounding snippy as he asked, “And do you always take the word of your erstwhile paramours?”
Tanner rubbed at the back of his neck.
“I mean, I trusted you.”
More fool him, then.
“Well, you shouldn’t have.”
Bracken straightened in his seat for full dramatic effect.
Although, it was a shame his belly had barely begun to show in any perceptible way.
If he was going to be anxious about silly things like revealing surprise pregnancies to the unwitting father, he’d like to at least make a spectacle of it.
Bracken would have waddled in at nine months if he’d been able to spare the time.
That would have been a showstopper.
Still.
The drama was there.
Tanner’s deep-brown eyes were certainly wide enough.
“I’m pregnant,” Bracken announced.
And it must have been the horrible hormones that made the admission such a relief.
It was definitely the hormones that had him tempted to break into tears.
There was no other reason.
None at all.
“And it’s yours.”