Page 12 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ace was beautiful in the sunlight. His black hair looked soft, and his jaw was just as strong and stubbled as the first time Ivo had seen him. His eyes were a beautiful gold, piercing Ivo’s soul. Ivo had to wrench his gaze away; he wanted to touch Ace’s broad shoulders and lush pecs to feel their sheer strength beneath his fingers.

It seemed so impossible that they were on either side of a flimsy restroom wall last night, knotted together after the best sex Ivo had had in his life.

“What’re you doing here?” Ivo blurted. Then he felt silly because this was apublic park.

Ace’s smile curled his toes. “Same as you, I assume.”

“You want to make a nest, too?”

Ace blinked. He looked at Ivo more closely. “Is that what you’re doing?”

“I’m not telling you unless you make one.”

Ivo could’ve smacked himself right after. Who even said that to an alpha?

Ace hesitated. Then he stepped across the tiny stream with his long legs, and sat down in his own clump of bushes. “Is this a good spot for a nest?”

Ivo nodded. “You have shade, grass, and water. I think you could build one there.”

Ace closed his fist around some grass, hesitating again. He watched as Ivo tore out clumps of tall grasses and scattered them around himself in a large circle. Then Ace stood, snapping some twigs off his tree.

“What’re you doing?” Ivo asked.

“Making my own nest.” Ace sat down and broke the twigs into smaller pieces, arranging them around himself in a circle. He stood and snapped off more twigs, and added them to the pile. His nest bulked up considerably.

“It’s not fair,” Ivo muttered. “You’re so much faster at building your nest.”

“That’s because I have big hands.” Ace laughed his low, rumbling laugh, and Ivo’s breath snagged.

Ivo’s own grass was a flat layer around him. He couldn’t pick much of it at a time; the grass was fibrous and hurt his hands.

“What’s wrong?” Ace murmured.

“It’s slow,” Ivo said, looking around. “I don’t think there’s enough grass here.”

The dragon was quiet for a second. “Tell you what,” Ace said slowly. “If you’d like, I have a place where you can make your own nest. There’s enough tall grass, there’s shade, and even a tiny creek just like this one.”

Ivo met his eyes warily. “You’d let me stay there for a while?”

Ace nodded. “However long you want. Your nest isn’t safe here. This is a public park; anyone could walk up in a heartbeat.”

Ivo’s stomach squeezed. “Yeah.”

“The place I have is—” Ace stopped when someone else stepped into view, someone just as large as him.

Ivo recognized the man. Crush was hairier than Ace, his canines longer than a regular human’s. He’d been part of the rescue team last week.

Crush was holding Ivo’s sneakers in one hand. In his other hand, he held the sparkly black shirt that Ivo had been wearing last night.

At the bar. Where Ivo had abandoned his clothes.

Crush’s gaze snapped onto Ivo; he opened his mouth.

Of course he knew—Crush was a wolf shifter. He’d sniffed out Ivo’s secret identity, and he was about to tell Ace.

Ivo must’ve paled, because Crush paused.

Crush raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. And Ivo shook his head, just a tiny movement.

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