Page 56 of Sven

“Don’t ever ask me that. You know I can catastrophize with the best of them. But enough about me. How is work for you?”

They drank their coffee as Sydney filled her in, but it wasn’t long until Sydney’s phone buzzed on the table. She groaned as she picked it up to look at it like she already knew what it would say.

“I hate to do this, but I have to get back to the hospital. My next night off is yours, I promise,” she said with a small apologetic smile.

“It’s fine. I’ll see you soon.”

“I’m sorry.” Sydney stood, gave her a hug, downed her coffee, and disappeared into the rain.

Natalie sat and finished her coffee, watching the rain track down the window before deciding to head home. As she walked to the parking lot, a red car sped by, splashing her with a wave of water.

She gasped. A string of curse words wanted to come out of her, but she swallowed them down and got to her car. She attempted to wipe off some of the water before getting in. When she noticed a large ding on her driver’s side door, it looked like it had been it had been whacked. Upon further inspection, she could she a small fleck of green paint that matched the car next to her.

There was a person sitting in the passenger seat who quickly turned away from Natalie. Had they hit her door? The familiar rage was building in Natalie. She blew out a breath and pushed it all down. It was fine... Everything was fine.

Being a Roper meant being on your best behavior all the time. It meant being the bigger person in every situation even when she wanted to bang on their window and sayWhat the fuck?

She pushed that anger down to live with the rest she kept tightly contained.

The rain poured down as Natalie quickly made her way back to her pool house. Once inside, she slipped her shoes off. She was soaked from the rain and the car that had sprayed her, so she peeled off her hoodie, then laid it over one of the kitchen chairs to dry. Next, she made it into her room. The bed in here was basically new and so comfortable. With how gray and gloomy it was outside, it was calling her name. She slipped off her damp jeans on the cuffs and tossed them in her hamper before crawling into bed.

This perfect, gloomy day called for a nap and binging her favorite show.

As she pulled up the show on her laptop, her phone dinged beside her.

Alice: I’ll see you at 7 at Glendale Escape Rooms. I hope you’re not scared of clowns.

Natalie: Terrified. Now you have me rethinking this.

Alice: No way! You’re coming, see you there.

Natalie: See you there.

As her show started, she settled down into bed. It had been a crazy couple of months. In November, she’d been fired and moved up here in January and was working for Sven by mid-February, and it was well into March. Up here, she was making a life for herself. That was good, but part of her was still so angry about what had happened in Alabama. She just shoved it down and watched the show as her mouth cracked open in a yawn. Winnie had been teething so sleeping through the night when Sven was gone had been inconsistent.

Before she knew it, her eyelids were heavy, and she drifted off.

“Natalie?” Sven called from her living room.

“What’s up?” she asked as she got out of bed and headed to the living room to see what he needed.

Only she was not prepared for what she saw when she was out there. He was shirtless, looking like did the morning she walked in, and he was sitting there, feeding Winnie, looking way more attractive than he had any right to.

“I need you,” he said with hunger in his eyes.

“You need me for what?” she asked as her heart raced.

“I just need you,” he said as he walked over to her and ran his hand through her hair.

“You do?” she gasped with parted lips, and her body was on fire for him.

“I do. I must have you,” he said as she cupped her jaw.

She reached up her hand and traced it down his defined abs.

Holy fuck. No one had any business being as attractive as he was.

“Sven,” she gasped. “We can’t. You’re my boss.”

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