Page 34 of Sven

Sven

Sven was on his way home from a road game. It was his first road trip since Natalie and Winnie had come into his life. This one was only three days, but he already missed Winnie. He pulled out his phone to check the time as he made his way to the car.

It was past eleven. He knew Winnie would probably be in bed. At least he would have some time to spend with her the next day, even if he did have a full day of work at the center.

Once he was home, he got his bag out and walked into the kitchen. He was surprised the light was still on. He was just about to turn it off when he saw Natalie coming down the stairs.

“Hey,” he said as she nearly jumped out of her skin. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She turned to him with her hand clutched to her chest. “Goodness gracious. You nearly scared the pants right off me.”

Sven would not picture her pantless. Nope. Well, at least he would stop doing it now.

“I’m surprised you’re still up.”

“I just got Winnie down.”

He checked his watch. She was usually in bed early.

“She must be about to hit a growth spurt. She’s been a little cranky.”

“My precious little baby? It can’t be.”

Natalie’s mouth cracked open in a yawn. “Well, her lack of sleep the past few nights would say otherwise.”

“Okay, well, you head out. I can take it from here.”

“Are you sure? She might get up again soon?”

“I’ll handle it. Go get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“If you’re sure,” Natalie said as she covered her mouth with another yawn before shuffling to the door to make her way to the pool house.

She may only have been here a couple of days, but he was feeling pretty good about his choice in a nanny. Not that he really had much of a choice with a recommendation from Hillary and the situation. But still, Natalie seemed perfect. He watched her as she made her way across the back yard until she was safe in the pool house, pulling the door shut behind her.

Yeah ... Old Sven definitely would have tried to have sex with her, but he couldn’t risk losing her.

He turned off the lights and made his way upstairs. Before making it down the hall to his room, he stopped off and peeked in at Winnie. She was curled up in her bed, sleeping safe and sound. Hopefully, she would stay that way for the rest of the night because he was ready to hit the bed himself.

After getting to sleep, Sven was up, getting Winnie ready for the morning when Natalie came in.

“How’d she sleep?”

“Good,” he said as he put Cheerios on her tray before prepping his smoothie.

“Well, that’s good,” she said. “We are going to head to the library today. Aren’t we, Miss Winnie?”

“Why are you taking her to the library?”

“For Tiny Tots Time.”

“What’s that?”

“Are you serious?”

Sven nodded.

“Tiny Tots Time?” she asked like he should know what he was talking about.

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