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

16. The Nest

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.

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!”

Ace beamed. “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.

“Stop snooping around in my things!” Ace yelled.

When there came no more sounds, Ivo sat Mary in her high chair and gave her a small plastic bowl of eggs. Then he gingerly picked up the scroll that Harvey had dropped.

Feeling as though he were committing a crime, Ivo tiptoed to the kitchen window to make sure Ace and Harvey were out of sight. He quietly untied the ribbon, and unraveled the scroll.

Ace’s handwriting was large and heavy, his words written in black ink.

Sweetest meringue heart, one day your soul and my soul will dance to the music of honking fart trumpets and we will step on each other’s toes as we dance in the moonlight.

Scarcely had Ivo finished reading, when Ace swore loudly. “Fuck! Where did you put that scroll?”

“I dropped it!” Harvey sang.

“Holy fucking crabsticks!” Footsteps thumped.

Ivo hurriedly shoved the scroll into the nearest drawer, shutting it right as the backdoor banged open.

Ace looked around wildly. “Where’s the scroll?”

Ivo blinked, but his heart thumped. “What scroll?”

Ace narrowed his eyes. “You know what scroll. It—It was a piece of pink paper.”

Ivo’s cheeks began to burn.

Ace stalked closer, his eyes glowing red.

It shouldn’t have been hot, maybe. But Ace had flashed his eyes at Ivo several times by this point, mostly in bed. Ivo had learned to grow wet at the sight.

“You know where it is,” Ace murmured.

Ivo couldn’t help glancing at the ribbon he’d set aside. Mary giggled and grabbed the ribbon, putting it into her mouth.

“Mary!” Ivo snatched it out of her hands, but it only incriminated him even further.

“Sweetheart,” Ace growled. But his eyes were almost pleading. Was he... worried?

“Why are you worried?” Ivo blurted.

“I wasn’t ready for you to read the scroll!” Ace groaned. “Did you think it was terrible?”

“Kind of,” Ivo admitted. Ace buried his face in his hands. “Wait! Don’t—I mean, yes, it was terrible, but I thought it was really sweet too.”

Ace peeked through a crack in his fingers. “You’re not going to run away?”

“I want to see the nest you’re building for me,” Ivo grumbled.

Ace took several slow breaths. “All right.”

Ivo’s heart leaped. “Really?”

“Yes. C’mon, grab Mary.” Ace waited for Ivo to scoop Mary back into his arms. Then he swept Ivo off his feet and walked out of the kitchen.

Outside, birds fluttered in the tall grass and trees. The shopping cart caught up with them, before getting stuck when it tried to follow them into the grass.

“Here,” Ace rumbled, grabbing the cart with his other arm.

“We should name it,” Ivo said quietly. “It has stuck with us through all the shopping trips.”

Ace grinned. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“Not Fart Trumpet.”

Ace grimaced. “I wasn’t going to suggest that!”

“What about Cartbreaker?”

“Oh, that’s clever.” Ace grinned down at Ivo, then shook the shopping cart gently with his other arm. “What do you think? Would you like to be called Cartbreaker?”

The cart lifted its flap twice. When Ace set it down next to the barricade, the cart wriggled and bumped against his leg.

“Guess you’re Cartbreaker now,” Ace said proudly. “Welcome to my lair.”

Cartbreaker squeaked its wheels. Ace opened the door in the barricade and carried Ivo and Mary through.

Weeks ago, this part of Ace’s property had been overgrown—ordinary trees around a tiny creek. Now, a low wood wall surrounded those trees. It reminded Ivo of an above-ground pool, except instead of water, the nest was stuffed with colorful pillows and blankets.

“What do you think?” Ace asked anxiously.

“It’s big. What if it rains?” Ivo whispered.

Ace nodded at the tree canopy. Under the leaves, he’d built a sloping roof that would direct rainwater away from the nest.

“Won’t that dry up the roots under the nest?” Ivo asked.

“I thought of that too. I’ve installed some water lines to direct the canopy runoff back to the roots.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” Appeased, Ivo squirmed in Ace’s arms. “Let me down.”

Ace obliged. Ivo approached the huge nest cautiously. It was the size of a swimming pool, with a wavy outline that had to be difficult to build. The walls were slightly lower than his knee, and there were so many pillows that he couldn’t see the floor.

“Everything’s fireproofed,” Ace said. “Mary won’t be able to set anything on fire in there.”

His heart swelling, Ivo released Mary onto a huge cushion that floated on top of the pillows. She babbled and tried to grab the cushion’s tassels; Ivo climbed into the nest after her.

The pillows were all soft and silky, and so very cozy. “This nest is huge.”

“Is there space for me?” A smile played on Ace’s lips.

“You built it to be big enough for you,” Ivo said, and paused. “Even as a dragon.”

“Well... I did. But this is your nest, first and foremost. You’ll have the final say on whether I’m allowed in there.”

How could Ace spend this much effort on a nest, only to give Ivo complete control over it? Ivo swallowed hard. “You should be in here, too.”

Ace grinned and kicked off his shoes, stepping in. He waded through the pillows; Ivo watched the way his muscles bunched under his clothes, the way Ace’s full lips curved when he caught Mary before she face-planted off her cushion.

He built a nest for me.

Ace moved Mary onto Ivo’s chest, and settled down by his side.

“This is amazing,” Ivo whispered. “All of it. I can’t even begin to thank you.”

Ace shrugged as he swept his gaze over the nest. “There are still some things I need to clean up. The finish isn’t perfectly smooth on the south side. I have to re-hang that string of fairy lights. The east power outlet needs a second coat of paint...”

“Ace.” Ivo curled his fist into Ace’s shirt, looking into his eyes. “This is so much more than any alpha has ever done for me. You could leave the imperfections as they are, and I would still think this is incredible.”

Ace’s gaze softened. “Okay. How about I tell you the things you would like to know?” At Ivo’s nod, Ace lifted a brown flap on the inner wall, revealing an electrical outlet. “I’ve put in a few of these around the nest, so you can charge your phone whenever you’d like. There’s a box next to each outlet with all the cables you might need.”

Ivo stared at the box; it looked like it had grown right out of the wooden wall. “You rounded the corners.”

“So you and Mary won’t get hurt if you bump into them.” Ace puffed out his chest. “I put in bookcases, too—the low ones are for Mary, and the ones on the tree trunks are for your books. There’s a snack chest by each electrical outlet, too, so you can munch on something while your phone charges. Those chests can be spelled to cool drinks in the summer.”

“What about the crumbs?” Ivo looked dubiously at the pillows.

“Cleaning spells,” Ace said proudly. “We’ll probably buy those off Uriel in bulk.”

“And if I want to switch out the pillows for something else?”

“We’ll replace them with blankets, or whatever you want. It’s not a difficult fix.”

Ivo kept staring at the pillow pit. Then he laid back, wriggling with Mary until he was floating in a sea of pillows. “This is crazy. It’s like the childhood dream I never knew I had.”

“It’ll have space for all our future dragonets, too.”

Heat surged through Ivo’s face. “F-future dragonets? Plural?”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “Do you not want more?”

“I hadn’t thought about it!”

“Now you can.”

Ivo blushed and wriggled through the pillows to snuggle against Ace’s chest. Ace kissed his temple.

Warm fingers brushed Ivo’s hip. He waited for Ace to touch his belly again, except Ace’s phone rang—the ringtone was The Flame Bangers’ My Annoying Half.

Ace scowled and answered the call. “What?”

Whatever Raptor said on the other end, it wiped away Ace’s irritation. Instead, Ace’s face went blank, and he looked away. “Give me the details. You’re sure about this? Fuck. All right. Keep me updated.”

Ace ended the call with a frown. Even though he’d been pushing himself lately, working on the nest, none of his frowns were anything like this one.

Right now, Ace looked murderous.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Ivo asked in a small voice.

Ace sighed. “Yes.”

He kissed Ivo’s forehead, but he seemed a lot more distracted this time.