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PROLOGUE

Sven ~ Gala

T he air was electric at the gala. While Sven wasn’t into mandatory team events with stuffed shirts, this fundraiser was different. He was on the dance floor with his teammates and beautiful women—nothing wrong with that. Not to mention he had just donated an obscene amount of money and volunteered to help the local animal shelter, so he was feeling like a good person. That was great because he was busy scanning the group to see who would be going up to his room with him.

The rest of his team was starting to wrap up the night, so all Sven had to do was pick a lucky lady. He’d his sight set on a pretty brunette named... Well, he forgot her name, but he would find out.

As his eyes followed her across the dance floor, he forgot to look where he was going.

“Ock, goodness,” a feminine voice called out with a thick Scottish brogue.

He turned and quickly grabbed the short woman by the shoulders, steadying her. “Pardon me, I apologize. I should’ve been looking where I was going.”

“Oh, no trouble. One of the beautiful women catch yer eye?”

He turned to her with his signature smirk. “A couple of them, actually.”

“Ahhh, to be young,” she said, returning the smirk.

“Can I interest you in a card reading?” she asked as she made her way behind a small round table.

“Why not?” Sven said as he sat across from her.

That smirk never left her face as she shuffled the cards.

“Cut the deck.” She placed the well word deck on cards on the purple tablecloth.

Sven did just that. As he touched the cards, a small jolt of electricity shot up his arm.

This would be interesting.

She picked the cards back up from the table. “Let’s see what the cards have to say, shall we?”

She flipped over the top card. There, on the table before him, lay The Fool—only it was upside down.

“The Inverted Fool,” she said with a raised brow. “Hmmm... It would seem ye live life in the moment, never really planning for the future.”

While Sven wanted to say she was wrong, she wasn’t. He didn’t really take life too seriously other than hockey. In most other aspects, he just skated through life, never really paying much attention to his actions.

She flipped over the next card, revealing The Wheel of Fortune.

“Well, it looks like yer in for surprise. This card can depict coming full circle...” The woman paused and appeared to be pondering. “It can be a card that represents a time for every season. Perhaps it is almost time for ye to move onto the next phase of life.”

While he wanted to bristle at this... she might have been right. He was turning twenty-seven and had been living the life of a single hockey player without much thought about the future. It might have been time to give the future some thought, but that sounded like a thought for the off season.

“Now to see what the future holds, lad.” Flipping over a third and final card, she looked up at him with a Cheshire grin. “The Ten of Cups.”

Before him lay a card depicting a couple embracing next to two small children who played under a rainbow and ten chalices. While he hadn’t given settling down and a family much thought yet, it was definitely something he wanted. Just later... much later.

“What do ye say? Do the cards speak true?”

“You’re pretty good that this,” he said with his easy charm.

“I’ve been told that a time or two.”

Just then, the brunette he’d had his eye on all night caught his attention at the bar. He was ready to stake his claim and get out of here for the night.

“Thank you for the reading,” he said before standing and making his way over to the bar.

“Sven,” someone called. He turned to see a familiar-looking woman with long dark hair. She had tried to talk to him earlier, and he had very pleasantly excused himself. “Can I talk to you?”

“I was just about to head out,” he said, giving her a polite smile.

“I really need to talk to you.”

Sven didn’t like the look on her face one bit.

“Do I know you?” he asked, eyeing her.

While there was something familiar about her, he couldn’t place her. He was pretty sure they’d never hooked up; she wasn’t his usual type. She was dressed fairly modestly, and he usually took the flashier bunnies up to his room. He was only in this for a good time, not to settle down.

“Umm . . . yeah?—”

Then he saw it. A commotion by the door. He had been hoping to find a woman to take home and head to the room he’d reserved upstairs... but that would have to wait.

His dad had just arrived.

That was one thing about Sven. He was part of hockey royalty. His dad was going to be inducted to the Hall of Fame. In fact, their last game at Madison Square Gardens had been followed by a ceremony where they lifted his father’s jersey into the rafters. He had invited his dad at the organization’s behest, but he didn’t think he would actually show up... It would appear he was wrong.

“Excuse me,” he said to the woman as he walked over to greet his dad.