Page 65 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ace laughed; it always made him look younger. “See, she isn’t in any hurry. Do you know who I am, lil spitfire? Who am I?”

“Eh!” Mary said, grabbing Ace’s paint-splattered shirt with her eggy fingers. “Eh!”

Acebeamed.“Close enough.”

Ivo could’ve melted, seeing his daughter reach for Ace for a cuddle.

He offered her to Ace; Ace swept Mary easily into his arms and rocked her against his chest. Mary kicked and gurgled in delight.

“I can’t believe you’re putting in this much effort for me,” Ivo said.

Ace raised an eyebrow. “I knocked you up. I’ll decide how much effort you’re worth.” He closed the distance between them and dropped a kiss on Ivo’s head, before handing Mary back. “See you at lunch. Maybe you can put a few bigger things on the credit card.”

Four days after Ivo had begun staying here, Ace had produced a shiny black credit card with Ivo’s name on it.This is tied to my account,Ace had said.Use it to buy anything you want.

He’d given Ivo a fancy laptop, too. Ivo had used it to buy a few books for himself, and some clothes and toys for Mary. Ace had been there when the packages arrived, except he’d frowned as though he’d expected more.

Ever since then, Ace had been trying to get Ivo to make more purchases with the card, except Ivo felt guilty about spending Ace’s money.

“Think of it as me providing for you,” Ace said now.

Ivo gestured at the huge, airy mansion around them. “This is already plenty of providing!”

“We’ll agree to disagree,” Ace said dryly.

Just to have the last word, Ivo said, “I’ve been here six weeks, and you haven’t let me peek at your hoard.”

Ace blushed and looked away. “It’s... not something you need to see immediately.”

With that, he hurried out, leaving Ivo staring after him.

Harvey flounced into the kitchen with a bright grin.

“What’s in his hoard?” Ivo asked.

Except the butler only cackled. “It’s stuffed to the brim. It’s so full, there’s hardly space for you to step inside. He can barely shift in there.”

“Harvey,” Ace bellowed from outside the mansion.

“I said nothing,” Harvey sang. But he reached into his suit jacket and produced a pink scroll tied with a ribbon. “Why don’t you read this? I found it on Spicy Master’s desk.”

Ivo eyed the scroll. “It’s another terrible pickup line, isn’t it?”

Harvey winked. “It’s bound to win your hand in eternal bonding.”

Ivo spluttered. “W-who said anything about bonding?”

“Precisely! No one said it!” Harvey shook his head. “You should have been walking the Circle three weeks ago.”

“Circle? What’s a Circle?”

Ace stomped back into the mansion, grabbed Harvey by his collar, and dragged him out.

Before he was forced out of hearing range, Harvey shouted, “Spicy Consort! Hurry!”

Hurry?

Ivo caught sight of the pink scroll on the kitchen floor.Oh.

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