Page 26 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ace rubbed his face. “This is fucked up. Ivo might not even agree—”

“You’re so confident about him, huh?” Harvey elbowed Ace in the ribs.

“No! I just...” Ace sighed. “I want him.”

“He’s right there, ripe for the picking.”

Ace swallowed. He couldn’t stop thinking about Ivo’s trusting gaze, the way his mouth fell open, his pink lips wet and soft. Begging for a taste. “He has one hell of an aim.”

Harvey snorted. In a strange tone, he replied, “Ivo certainly does.”

Why did Ace get the feeling that his butler was talking about something else?

8

CAUGHT

Ivo’s phonewas almost dead.

His battery was at five percent, a fact he only realized after he’d been texting his friends for far too long.

There were no electrical outlets in Ace’s front yard. Not that Ivo had a charging cord, either.

“Damn it,” he muttered, tucking his phone into his nest.

Mary had just fallen asleep on his lap. It was dark now, the full moon casting an eerie silver glow on the grass and trees. The creek’s merry gurgling soothed his nerves, and further away, some of the windows in Ace’s mansion were lit up warm and golden.

It was... unexpectedly inviting. A pang of homesickness struck Ivo. Not that he had anyone in Colorado to return to; his friends had all been kidnapped, and their rescuers had brought them to Cartfalls and housed them in the same apartment.

What were Nat and the others doing right now? Did they miss him?

Probably not; they had their own babies to care for.

His thoughts drifted to Ace. What was the dragon doing in his mansion? Was he settled in comfortably, his feet kicked up on a desk, his shirt buttons undone to reveal a hint of his chest...?

Or maybe Ace had a hand down his pants, and he was taking the time to stroke himself.

Ivo swallowed against the sudden dryness in his throat. He placed Mary on a bed of soft grass and climbed out of his nest. Then he spent the better part of an hour padding out its walls, until he ran out of the cut grass Ace had given him.

He hopped across the creek next, weaving in the rest of the twigs that were still sticking out of Ace’s nest. And now it finally looked comfortable on the outside. Ivo badly wanted to climb into the huge nest and feel how big it was around him.

He didn’t want Ace to find him invading his nest, though. That would be mortifying.

When Ivo returned to the creek, his skin itched. All that nest-building had left him sweaty, but the creek was barely the width of his body.

There was one way he could make the creek comfortable enough to swim in.

Ivo glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. Then he shifted in his clothes, squirming out through his neckline to scamper into the creek.

Water splashed around him. In this shape, the creek was so much wider, deep enough for him to do a back flip.

Ivo played in the water. He swam up and down the creek, ducking between the reeds. The water was cool on his nose and paws, and on the parts of his skin where his water-repellent fur never grew back.

It was possible that he lost track of time.

He only noticed the strange golden glow when it bounced off the grass nearby.

Ivo poked his head out of the water to investigate.

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