Page 35 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

“Thanks,” Ivo said, relieved. Mary made little snarfling sounds in Ace’s other arm, leaning in as though she wanted to eat Ivo’s hair.

“I should be holding her,” Ivo said weakly.

“Will you be okay? You’re not wearing clothes; she might scratch you with her claws.”

“I’ll be fine,” Ivo said hurriedly.

Ace carefully handed over the baby dragon. Then he hovered behind Ivo all the way to his nest, watching as Ivo set Mary down so he could put on some clothes.

When Ivo was fully dressed, Ace said slowly, “Did you want to... leave?”

He looked so uncertain that Ivo felt terrible. “No! Not unless you want me to.”

Ace shook his head quickly. Then the tension drained from his body, and he smiled. “C’mon, let’s get going. I want to take you out on a short trip.”

“Not with Mary like this!”

They stared at each other, then at Mary. She yawned widely; Ace’s expression turned gooey. He made weird faces at her.

Mary shifted back into a human baby, giggling as she stuffed her fist into her mouth.

“How did you do that?” Ivo asked. “She doesn’t shift back no matter what I try.”

“Dragonets shift into their human shapes easier when they find something funny. They like laughing,” Ace said, his gaze soft.

“Oh.” Ivo gulped. He thought about telling Ace the truth, but the fact that he’d hidden his knowledge of Ace’s identity this entire time... He couldn’t help feeling nervous.

Ace wrapped his arm around Ivo’s shoulders, leading him across the grass to the driveway. “Harvey will bring the car up. I’ll have him grab a change of clothes for Mary, too.”

“Where are we going?” Ivo asked.

Ace gave a secretive smile. “You’ll see.”

They stood together, Ace rubbing his large hand down Ivo’s arm. Then the navy SUV pulled up in front of them, its back door sliding open.

“So,” Harvey said cheerfully from the driver’s seat. “Ready for another embarrassing childhood story?”

Ace cringed. “Harvey.”

“What’s up, Spicy Master?”

“Don’t tell him any more terrible things about me!”

“Nope!” Harvey met Ivo’s eye. “I bet you can’t stop thinking about Spicy Master and his dads’ destroyed anniversary cake.”

“Yeah,” Ivo admitted sheepishly.

Ace looked horrified. “Please just get in the car and ignore my butler.”

Harvey waited until the car was rolling and they were off the property. “I think you’re forgetting something,” the butler said slyly. “There is no glass partition between us.”

“I’m going to get one installed the moment we’re home,” Ace growled.

“But that’s hours away. It means I have lots of time to fill Ivo in on all the funny things you’ve done,” Harvey said cheerfully.

Ace bared his teeth. Harvey cackled.

Ivo looked up hopefully, meeting Harvey’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

---