Page 25 of Sven

Natalie

It was 8 o’clock on Monday morning when Natalie pulled up to Sven Olsson’s big, beautiful house. It was intimidating to look at, and she was even more nervous about going in. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since she left that house on Friday.

When she’d gotten back to Sydney’s house on after the interview, she’d filled her in. The red flags were not lost on Sydney, but she hadn’t seen him with Winnie.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? This sounds like drama?” Sydney had asked.

“I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’ll be too bad.”

Both Sydney and Natalie we were well acquainted with google searches. They searched for anything unsavory about him, but all they came up with was he was a bit of a playboy with killer fashion sense. She had to cross her legs a few times with all the slow-motion suit cam footage. Could she work for someone that hot? She was going to find out.

It wouldn’t be too bad, she thought. Quite the opposite, in fact. She had a good feeling about this. But even that did nothing to calm her nerves in this moment with the beautiful house looming over her and the equally beautiful man inside. He was her boss. Her boss she was not attracted to.

She walked up to the door and knocked. She braced for Sven’s handsome face but instead got the face of a middle-aged white woman.

“You must be Natalie,” said the woman with a smile.

“That’s me.”

“Come in. I’m Kathy Malone. I’m Sven’s housekeeper. I’m here three days a week. I do it all, cook and clean and shop. Basically, I take care of things since his schedule can be so crazy. Have you decided if you are staying here full time yet?”

“Oh, umm,” she said, still taking in the house. “I think I’ll just stay when he’s traveling.”

“Sounds good. Remind me later to share with you the house files. I keep things like shopping lists in there. You can add anything for yourself or Winnie for when you stay here.”

“Oh, thank you. That’s really helpful.”

She followed the woman into the kitchen. “I’ve been working for Sven for about two years. He’s a great boss. I hope you’ll be happy here.”

“Awesome, thank you.”

She thought she was prepared when she turned the corner into the kitchen, but she was not. She wasn’t sure what would have prepared her for a shirtless Sven with bedhead sitting across from the little girl. He opened his mouth as she mirrored him, and he fed her a bite of baby food.

“Natalie’s here,” said Kathy.

Sven turned, and if it was possible Natalie would have melted right there on the kitchen tile as he smiled at her. Just then, precious little Winnie decided to blow a raspberry with a mouthfull of baby food. It splattered all over Sven’s face and bare chest. His face contorted as he turned to the smiling little girl banging on the high chair tray.

“Nice,” he said with a smile as he reached for a kitchen towel to wipe his face off. “Natalie, let me finish up here, and I’ll show you around.”

“Let me,” said the housekeeper. “You look like you might need a shower before you head in.”

“You’re not wrong,” he said, standing and handing her the little spoon and bowl of food.

He ran the towel over his shoulder. Natalie tried not to stare as he ran it over the most defined pec he’d ever seen. She tried not to let her gaze travel down his well-defined abs. When she bit her lip, she reminded herself he was her boss. Needing to stop ogling him, she slowly brought her eyes up to his only to find him grinning at her.

Dammit. This was not off to a very good start.

“Are you ready?” he asked with an air of cockiness she had not yet seen from him.

Fuck. This was not how she wanted to start this.

She followed him up the stairs.

“This is Winnie’s room,” he said, taking her into the nursery.

It was amazing. It was done beautifully in sunflowers and sunshine yellow.

“This is really nice. I thought you didn’t know about her until recently?” she asked before she had time to stop to think about whether her question was rude or not.

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