The Accidental Dragon Baby (Babies For Broken Dads #1)

15. Acrobatic Morning Sickness

15

ACROBATIC MORNING SICKNESS

Ivo held his breath, trying his best to look deserving of Ace’s trust.

“I feel a little self-conscious,” Ace admitted. “You’re the first person I’ve brought home.”

Ivo stared. “What? How? You’re hundreds of years old. Surely I’m not the only one.”

“Well, you’re not the first first person I’ve brought home. But you’re the first in a very long time,” Ace said quietly. “Back when I was a wee lil dragonet, before I had a butler, I used to have a mate. He was a human with a bit of magic, just enough to get pregnant. We’d talked about raising a big family. But before that could happen, my mate fell ill and died. We didn’t have a spell to cure his illness back then.

“For a long time after that, I was just... closed off. I used to be more serious. More of a person who did what everyone else did. Then I decided that I had no more fucks left to give, and I did whatever I wanted. I got into the habit of doing strange things to amuse myself.

“Raptor, he... He changed along with me. It’s something that most people can’t get past, when they’re looking for a mate. I can’t change back to who I used to be. Sometimes I worry that I’ve fucked up Raptor’s chances of finding a mate, because he chose to weather that loss with me instead.”

Ivo’s throat tightened. “I’m glad you had him. Both of them. And I’m sorry for your loss.”

Ace’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Yeah?”

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re fine as you are,” Ivo admitted. “And I really want to hug you.”

Ace brightened. “Aww, sweetheart! Of course you can.”

He rolled them over onto their backs. Then he pushed Ivo upright and turned Ivo around on his knot, so they now faced each other. Ivo only realized then, how intently Ace was watching him. His heart stuttered.

He drew a deep breath and leaned in, wrapping his arms tightly around Ace.

Like before, Ace’s arms were warm and strong around him.

“You’re perfect,” Ace whispered. He cupped Ivo’s face, and leaned in to kiss his scarred eye.

Ivo’s heart stopped.

Before he could think of a reply, someone knocked on the door. Ace stiffened.

“It can’t be that bad, right?” Ivo whispered.

“Of course not,” Harvey said from behind the door.

“We’re never that bad,” another voice said.

“You should be over at Raptor’s, Hassel,” Ace growled.

“Raptor doesn’t need me right this moment.”

With another series of knocks, the bedroom’s double doors swung open.

Suddenly, Ivo understood why the butlers had thought it necessary for both of them to show up.

Harvey and Hassel each carried a large silver serving tray. Harvey’s tray was filled with an assortment of cakes, cookies, and pastries, while Hassel’s tray held steaming glass dishes: double servings of stew, mac and cheese, and lasagna.

Behind them, the shopping cart carried a teapot in its belly, along with a coffee carafe, a bottle of orange juice, milk, and water.

All three of them entered the bedroom, the shopping cart butting up eagerly against the butlers.

“I didn’t ask you to bring the entire kitchen,” Ace grumbled.

“Only the best for Spicy Master’s mating attempts,” Harvey said jauntily. In a few deft movements, he had his tray set up as a low table on one side of the bed. Hassel followed suit.

Ace rolled his eyes. “Don’t call it an attempt. It wasn’t a failure.”

Harvey wriggled his eyebrows lasciviously. “Oh, we are well aware.”

Ivo hurriedly sat up. Nudity was one thing; he wasn’t sure he wanted everyone to see just how intimately he and Ace were joined.

“We thought you might like to replenish your energy so you can go for a few more rounds without leaving the bed,” Hassel added.

Now that Ivo was looking closely, he realized that Hassel wore a farmer’s outfit, complete with a cowboy hat, plaid shirt, denim overalls, and boots.

The butlers set the drinks on the dresser along with some glassware. Then they stepped back with bright eyes and brighter smiles, as though they were waiting for something.

“You’re dismissed,” Ace said.

“Of course,” Harvey said.

“We’ll just be on our way,” Hassel chirped.

They were both looking at the trays. Ivo followed their gazes—

Bits of pink surrounded the food. When Ace dragged the trays closer, Ivo realized that they were actually curled-up paper, scattered in a single layer around the plates. Each slip contained handwritten words; Ivo picked up the nearest one and read it.

We orbit each other, pulled together like the inevitable swirl of water going down a toilet.

Ivo choked on his spit. “What?”

Ace breathed a sigh and grabbed another pink slip. Ivo leaned in to read his.

It is my dearest wish that we will grow old and shriveled together, like two raisins tossed into the abandoned fruit salad at the back of the fridge.

“What? How? Why?” Ivo wailed. They were terrible.

But Ace’s mouth twitched as though he was amused.

“There’s a section in 699 Pickup Lines that’s purely motivational quotes,” Harvey said proudly. “We thought you two might need some extra motivation.” He bucked his hips pointedly.

Ace shook his head and sighed. “Clearly they will not work.”

“We’ll go ahead and prepare some for your brotherly half,” Harvey said. “We think he needs some urgent help.” He linked arms with Hassel.

Together, the butler brothers swung their hips, using the momentum to throw themselves out of the bedroom. The shopping cart followed them slowly, turning back to Ace and Ivo as though it felt bad about leaving them behind.

“We’ll be okay,” Ivo said.

The cart flipped its wheels and hurried after the butlers.

“Breakfast?” Ace asked, tugging over the tray with the savory dishes.

Except it grew close enough that Ivo caught a whiff of garlic.

His stomach heaved.

“Ace,” he yelped. He tried to haul himself away, except Ace’s knot was stuck inside him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to puke!”

Ace paled. “Fuck!”

He grasped Ivo’s hips and lunged off the bed, his knot a heavy, tugging weight. Ivo clutched at him, unsure what to do about the warring sensations of pleasure and nausea.

They made it to the fancy, spacious bathroom with marble floors and beautiful lighting. Only for Ivo to be facing Ace instead of the toilet.

Ivo twisted away, at the same time Ace tried to rotate both of them.

By some sheer miracle, Ivo managed not to get any puke on the floor when his stomach heaved. Ace held onto him precariously, rubbing Ivo’s back as he held Ivo suspended above the toilet like a circus acrobat—legs thrown out sideways, his arms flailing, his head lower than the rest of his body.

“Oh, gods,” Ivo moaned between heaving. “This isn’t first date material.”

“This is ‘I knocked you up’ material, though.”

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.”

Ace narrowed his eyes. “You don’t need them.”

“Yeah. Nat took a huge risk and came with me to search for the poachers; he was the first one to agree to help,” Ivo said. “I met him at a convenience store when the clerk accused me of hiding stuff in my hoodie—I wasn’t! I just didn’t want anyone to see my scars. Nat was there and he stood up for me.”

Ace smiled a little. “I’m glad he was there.”

“Same here. He’s the chubby one; I don’t know if you remember him from last week,” Ivo said. “He’s missing a few fingers.”

Ace’s grip tightened around him.

“Anyway, when I was old enough to leave my foster parents, I moved in with Nat. We became friends with Walren and Killian—Walren’s the one with the missing knee; his leg is short because of that. And Killian has PTSD but he won’t tell us why. Then there’s Pinks—you know him already, he’s the one with the angel kid. We’re all broken in some way except for Pinks.

“Pinks came to Cartfalls first and found himself an alpha... I guess that’s how the rest of us came to be here, because he told your friends that we were kidnapped. And my friends... they were all worried when I left the apartment to build a nest.”

When he looked up, Ace’s expression was soft. Ace said, “You’ve found yourself some good friends.”

Ivo nodded gratefully. He unlocked his phone and opened his messages, blinking when Ace looked away. “You’re not going to read my messages?”

“You deserve some privacy,” Ace murmured.

“Oh. Thanks.” Ivo ducked his head to hide a smile.

The chat was filled with several messages he’d missed.

Nat-urallyBig

Ivo??? Maybe give us an update?!

NotAWalrus

(eyes emoji) He’s been gone a while

KillianKillsDreams

Maybe Ace is kissing his butt

Maybe they’re curled up together in Ivo’s nest

NotAWalrus

Maybe they fell in love and are screwing like minks lol

Nat-urallyBig

I don’t even know what minks screw like

KillianKillsDreams

Is there someone we can ask?

NotAWalrus

It’s been almost 24 hours

PinksThinks

I’m going to ask Galent’s butler

Ivo is safe, apparently. He just hasn’t given us an update (shakes fist) Dammit Ivo!!!

Nat-urallyBig

There better be a good reason for your silence, Ivo

IvoFivo

I’m alive!!!! Sorry guys. I had some big news to deal with

Nat-urallyBig

Big news like what??

IvoFivo

Um, so about the nesting

HocusPocus

... Oh dear

IvoFivo

I... might be expecting?

NotAWalrus

Again!?!??!?!

Nat-urallyBig

Is it Ace’s???

HocusPocus

Didn’t you use the condom?

IvoFivo

I did!!! It broke (grimacing emoji)

HocusPocus

Crap. And you didn’t think to tell us until now?

IvoFivo

I only just found out! Well. I found out about the broken condom this morning.

PinksThinks

Let me guess. And you’ve been stuffed ever since

HocusPocus

I’ll help with the fallout from the broken condom, if you want me to. This turned out to be a mess. I’m really sorry.

Ivo looked up, angling his phone toward Ace. “Uriel wants to know how he can make up for the broken condom.”

Ace frowned. “No. It’s my baby. I’m not letting him have any claim on it. In fact... Maybe I should send him my thanks.”

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. “Do you think there’s something in the water?”

Ace gave him a long look. “Yes.”

Even Ivo could tell that was a lie.