Page 61 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ace continued to hold him, tearing off some toilet paper so Ivo could wipe his mouth.

“This is... nice,” Ivo said when his heaving finally stopped, and Ace handed him a glass of cool water to rinse his mouth. “No one did this for me when I was pregnant with Mary.”

Ace narrowed his eyes. “That fucker left you to deal with all of this.”

Ivo shrugged uncomfortably. “I had no way of contacting him. And he wasn’t the sort of person I’d ask for help.”

“His loss,” Ace growled. “You’re mine now.”

“I didn’t say I was!” Ivo yelped.

“Mine,” Ace said anyway.

Ivo’s stomach flipped. He rinsed out his mouth, tensing when Ace turned him back toward the bed.

Ace shot him a questioning look.

“It’s the garlic,” Ivo said. “I think I can’t be around garlic right now.”

Ace nodded. “Harvey.”

Maybe Ivo should be freaked out by how Ace didn’t even have to raise his voice, before the butler showed up again in the bedroom.

“The mashed potato is the only one with garlic,” Harvey said, lifting out the offending bowls. Then he nodded at them, and disappeared again.

Ivo sighed. “I like garlic. It’s not fair that I can’t eat it right now.”

Ace winced. “Dragon pregnancies take six months. How long do minks take?”

“Three. So this will probably be four and a half, like Mary’s.” Ivo sagged. “I couldn’t have garlic with her, too. I only just remembered.”

Ace made a face. “Sorry, sweetheart. How about we see if there are any herbs and spices that taste good to you right now? Hopefully there’ll be one that can replace garlic.”

“Maybe,” Ivo said.

“Can you eat, or would you like to wait on food?”

Ivo rubbed his stomach. “Maybe a little.”

Ace poured them some drinks and brought them to the bed, where he began to feed Ivo tiny forkfuls of strawberry cake.

“I can feed myself,” Ivo protested. Ace popped another mouthful between his lips. The cake was heaven, fluffy and sweet. Ivo scowled anyway.

Ace grinned. “I like putting things into your mouth. You open so readily for me.”

Ivo’s cheeks burned.

“Tell me more about your friends. Do you need to inform them that you’re okay?”

Ivo jerked. “Crap!” He looked around for his phone and found it on the nightstand. When he moved to grab it though, something tugged in his ass. Ace’s knot. “Dammit!”

“Here, let me get that for you.” Ace reached out and handed Ivo his phone.

Before he opened the chat with his friends, Ivo looked up. “They’re my best friends from Colorado,” he said. “I met Nat first, after I was kidnapped the first time.”

“What about your friends from before you were kidnapped?”

Ivo sagged. “They looked at me weird. I had all these new scars and bandages, and they decided that I was too ugly to keep hanging out with them.”

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