Page 64 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ivo blushed.

IvoFivo

Ace says he’ll send you a fruit basket

Nat-urallyBig

snort

NotAWalrus

I’m actually worried for all our butts. First it was Pinks getting knocked up again. Now it’s Ivo’s turn. Do you think there might be something in the water?

Ivo showed Ace that message, too. “Doyouthink there’s something in the water?”

Ace gave him a long look. “Yes.”

Even Ivo could tellthatwas a lie.

16

THE NEST

Over the next few weeks,Ivo’s baby bump began to show. His flat belly swelled, and Ace couldn’t stop petting it.

Ivo would be sitting at the breakfast bar tucking into his cereal when Ace would stop next to him, sliding his fingers under Ivo’s shirt.

Or he would be crawling around with Mary on the living room playmat, when Ace would drop next to him and bury his face against Ivo’s belly.

Ace took weekly pictures of Ivo’s abdomen. He nuzzled the bump and spoke to it every night.

Ivo wasn’t sure what this thing was between them, when Ace had kissed every inch of his skin by this point—just not his lips.

It wasn’t that Ace wasn’t interested. Ivo saw the way the dragon looked at him, the way Ace brightened when Ivo stepped into a room. And he knew the way his own heart quickened when Ace smiled at him.

Maybe they were both just... waiting.

“Will you let me see the nest?” Ivo asked one morning, over a breakfast of ham and eggs that Ace had cooked.

Ace had moved the blankets and new pillows to his own bed, so Ivo could have a secondary nest while his original one was being reconstructed. In the meantime, Ace had set up a tall fence around the cluster of trees, forbidding Ivo from peeking at his work-in-progress.

Through the weeks, Ivo had heard plenty of hammering and sawing; curiosity itched under his skin every day when Ace stepped into his mansion covered in sawdust and dirt.

It’s not ready yet,Ace kept telling him.

Today, though.

Today Ace’s eyes were bright, his entire body buzzing.

“It might be ready today,” Ace said excitedly. “I just want it all to be perfect.”

“I don’t mind if it’s imperfect,” Ivo said. “You’ve already spent too much time on it.”

“It should be a perfect nest for a perfect person,” Ace said solemnly.

Ivo swallowed hard. He stood Mary on his lap and turned her to face Ace. “C’mon, Mary. Tell Ace we want to see it already.”

Mary grabbed a piece of egg off Ivo’s plate and smeared it all over her face.

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