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Sven

T he next morning, Sven had to get up and get in for the video review and practice. He also needed to talk to Sasha about everything. He knew parts of this could be a media shitstorm, so he wanted to make sure he did what needed to be done.

He was making his smoothie as Natalie was down on the floor, playing with Winnie.

“Are you guys going to be okay?” he asked Natalie.

“Of course we are. Aren’t we, Winnie-Bell?” she said, giving her kisses.

“Where are my kisses?” Sven asked with a fake pout.

She smiled, stood, and walked over to him. “They’re right here.” Reaching up on her toes, she kissed him.

He slid his arms around her and leaned into the kiss as the kitchen door opened.

“It’s about time,” said Ms. Malone.

Sven and Natalie pulled away. Natalie looked sheepish, but Sven knew the cocky grin stretched across his face.

“Bye, sweet girl,” he said as he bent to the floor and kissed Winnie on the head. “I’m not sure what time I’ll be home since I need to talk to Sasha about everything that happened yesterday.”

“We’ll be here.”

Sven walked into the Magic center with a little pep in his step. He’d scored the winning goal of the last game and had been playing better, so he wasn’t worried about being called out. Plus, he had Winnie and Natalie. He didn’t think anything could get him down.

“Look at you,” Conner said as they walked into the video review room at the same time. “You look like you’re feeling pretty good about your couple days off.”

“I’m feeling good. Ready to start the playoff push with a clear head.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Conner said as he took his seat.

After the video review, they were all getting on the ice for a few drills and a scrimmage. He was ready, but when he stepped out on the ice, something had shifted. He was running drills, and the puck was going right where he wanted it.

Then, when the scrimmage started, he could tell something had shifted. It was almost like he was... having fun. Though he couldn’t recall the last time he’d had fun playing hockey. He was on a line with Niko and Gunnar and was flying and took the puck past Taylor, who was hard to get past. Then he sent it Gunnar’s way who sent it to the net, only for Ethan to block it, but Sven got the rebound and chipped it up and got the goal.

Fuck, that felt good , he thought as he rounded the net to pats on the back.

After, they were off the ice and changing in the locker room.

“You were good out there today,” Conner said.

“I’m feeling good.”

“Just in time for the cup. Playoffs start soon.”

“We all know playoffs are soon,” said Cash as he threw a wad of sock tape at him.

After he showered and got dressed, Sven headed up the offices to see if Sasha was in. He knew they would have to go to Hillary, but Sasha was much easier to talk to than Hillary. When he got to Sasha’s door, it was closed. He knocked, and Sasha laughed as she told him to come in.

As he opened the door, he saw Conner behind her desk.

“How did you beat me up here?” he asked Conner.

“Why are you talking to my fiancé?”

“Oh, get your panties out of a knot. It’s for work.”

Conner just glared at him. He knew he was just fucking with him.

“I’m going to go. I’ll see you at home,” Conner said as he bent down to kiss her.

After he left, Sven plopped down in the chair across from Sasha.

“What can I do for you, Sven?”

“So, you know about Winnie.”

Sasha nodded.

“My daughter.” He loved saying that. “I have sole custody of her now, and I imagine she will be around games, and that kind of stuff. I wasn’t sure how you would handle that, so I just wanted to let you guys know as I did.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. She’s a little sweetie. Conner and I had so much fun watching her. If you ever need a sitter again, let us know.”

“I will,” he said.

“I’m going to loop in Hillary and let you know how we should proceed if that works. I know usually there is an announcement of a new birth, but this situation is a little different.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure how to handle it. Just so you have all the information, her mother is in rehab. I’m paying for it, and things are still kind of fresh, but the paperwork is done, and she’s going to be with me.”

Sven stood to leave, feeling good.

“I’ll let you know what Hillary says. We might want to run a piece just to get the work out before it drops.”

“Whatever you guys think is best.”

“Are you happy?”

“Yeah,” Sven answered honestly. “I’m really happy.”

He stopped by the locker room to get his bag before making it to the car. As he made his way to the parking lot, he realized he was leaving the center, feeling lighter than he had in ages. Part of it was Winnie and having that settled. But the more he thought about it, it was his dad.

The pressure his dad had put on him for all these years was crushing. With all that off his back, he felt amazing, and he just had the practice of his life to prove it. Maybe it was time he cut his dad out of his life entirely. That seemed like a big decision, but he knew he needed to draw some firm boundaries to not only keep himself sane but to keep the women in his life safe. If he ever did anything to Winnie or Natalie, he wasn’t sure what he would do, but he wasn’t going to find out. He needed to be proactive about this.

He pulled into his garage and loved the sight of Natalie’s car next to his, but he thought she might need a new car. Hers was pretty old. And he was hoping to get married and make a whole brood of kids with her. She seemed to like them, so if she was open to it, he wanted a house full. There were still three more bedrooms upstairs. He knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he couldn’t help it.

He opened the door, and Natalie was playing some music while Winnie played in her high chair. Natalie was making dinner. It was domestic bliss at its finest. He really needed to figure out if Natalie wanted to go back to work or what she wanted to do because, with as much as he loved this and would love to come home to it every day, he wanted her to be happy. That’s all he really cared about. Even if she said she didn’t want any kids, he already had Winnie. If he had Winnie and Natalie, everything would be fine.

“What is that look on your face?” Natalie asked as she worked at the stove.

“I’m just happy to see you,” he said, walking over and slipping his arms around her waist.

“I’m happy to see you, too,” she said, leaning back to him.

“What are you making?”

“Well, I have some mac and cheese in the oven, and I’m frying up some chicken tenders, and I also have a big salad.”

“Aren’t there leftovers in the fridge from Kathy?”

“Well... of course, but I haven’t had a kitchen like this to cook in a long time, so I thought I would take advantage of it.”

“Perfect.”

He went over to kiss Winnie on the head as Natalie bent over and pulled the mac and cheese out of the oven. The sight of the round ass bent over was something he could get used to. He was hoping to have a little more fun with her later.

Before he knew what was happening, they were sitting down to dinner, and it felt perfect, which, after the day prior, was a surprise.

“I heard from Stacie today. She got checked into a facility in the Catskills.”

“Do you think she will stay?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Sadly, I don’t really know her very well, I hope, for Winnie’s sake, she can get her act together, but there’s not much I can do besides pay for treatment,” he said before getting a forkful of mac and cheese.

As his mouth closed around the hot bite of noodles, he blew on them. “Hot...”

Natalie laughed as she blew on noodles, then put them on Winnie’s tray.

“Holy shit, that’s good. Where did you learn to cook like that?”

“Every good southern girl can cook mac and cheese.”

“Have you thought about how to handle things with your dad?” she asked carefully.

“No. Although I will say that I had an amazing practice. I actually had fun playing hockey with my teammates, and sadly, I’d forgotten that was even a thing. I think the pressure my dad always put on me to be as good as he was got to me more than I thought it did.”

Her hand slipped into his. “That’s really great, Sven. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Smiling at her, he realized he’d almost forgotten what it was like to have someone in your corner, too. Having Natalie by his side meant more than he could say, but he would show her.

After Sven got Winnie to sleep, he came down on the couch to Natalie, who was watching reruns on his big TV.

“Do you mind if I turn on a game? I’d like to watch the Predators game since we are playing them tomorrow.”

“Of course,” she said, tossing him the remote. “Should I head out to the pool house?”

“Don’t even think about it,” he said, flopping on the couch and pulling her feet onto his lap.

“Why do they have to switch during face-offs?” she asked as one of the players was called to switch.

“It can be for a couple different reasons, like stick position, making body contact, things like that.”

“Gotcha.”

“What about that? What does offsides mean?”

“Offsides is when an attacking player enters the offensive zone before the puck.”

“You sure do know a lot about this hockey stuff,” she said, smiling over.

“Yeah, I know a thing or two.”

During the intermission, he got up and got a drink, but when he came back to the couch, he lay down and rested his head on Natalie’s chest and wrapped his arms around her.

“Comfy?” she asked in amusement.

“Incredibly,” he said as she moved his head nuzzling her breasts like he was snuggling into a pillow.

She continued to scroll on her phone as the commentators talked about the teams. Sven glanced at her phone at different pictures of different classroom layouts, organization systems, and all that kind of stuff.

“Do you miss teaching?”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “I really do.”

“Did you always want to be a teacher?”

A laugh bubbled up. “Yeah, I did. I remember playing school with some of the neighborhood kids when I was little. I was a tough teacher even then.” She ran her hand through his hair. He loved that she did that. “It was just something I always knew I wanted to be. I love kids. I love learning new things. It just seemed like an easy choice.”

“Did you always teach kindergarten?”

“Yeah, I was heading into my third year at that school. When I was a student teacher, I taught second grade, and I liked it, but there is just something about kindergarten I really loved.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“If it was an option for me... Yeah, I do.”

“What about when you have kids?”

The question snuck out before he had even thought it through.

“I don’t know. I always thought I would have loved to take time off until they were school age, then maybe get back into it... but it’s all a moot point now.”

She seemed so calm, even as she was telling him how her dream was taken from her.

“Why aren’t you more angry?”

She scoffed. “I’m pissed. I’m so angry. Sometimes I’m so angry it scares me, so I guess I just try to ignore it.”

“That seems healthy,” he said to her with a raised eyebrow.

“It is what it is? Your games back on.”

The finality in her voice told him she was done with that conversation. He’d let it be over, but he was hoping to revisit it later. Holding onto that much unexpressed anger was never good.

They snuggled while they watched the second period of the game. Natalie was starting to nod off towards the end, but as Sven moved, she gave him a sleepy smile. He wasn’t sure why sleepy women had never done it for him before, but Natalie—in any form—would always do it for him.

He reached up and kissed her, and to his utter joy, she kissed him right back. She cupped his face and opened to him as he deepened the kiss.

He needed her. More of her.

He got up on his knees and pulled her hips down slightly. As he grabbed onto her leggings, he pulled those off.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked as he pulled them all the way off.

“Dessert.” He cocked an eyebrow and licked his lips.

Her gaze turned heated as he bent and kissed her and continued to kiss lower. He draped one leg over the back of the couch, set her foot on the floor, and sat back, taking in the sight of Natalie spread like this for him.

He pressed a kiss to her center as she moaned. God, he loved the sound of that. Using a hand to hold her open, he licked from her center up to her clit and did that a few times until she was writhing with need. This time, he circled it, and a moan escaped her perfect pouty lips.

He sank in a finger while he continued to work her. That got him another moan, so he added another finger and sucked her clit into his mouth. That got a moan and a hair pull. Part of him wanted to keep doing that until it drove her over the edge, but he wanted to drag this out.

The game still had ten minutes until it was over, and he would make good use of the time. He raised his hand, slipped it underneath her shirt, and was happy she was just wearing a bralette, something easy to slip his hand under. So, he massaged her breast, while he slowly licked her clit and fucked her with two fingers.

“Oh my god, Sven,” she cried as her fist tightened in his hair.

He could tell he was close, but he was enjoying himself too much to rush this.

“Please, Sven,” she said, raising her hips to his face.

He gave in to her plea and gave her what she needed. He plucked the nipple a little harder, worked his fingers a little faster, and sucked her clit.

“Fuck,” she cried out as he felt her pussy pulse around him.

He milked out every ounce of pleasure he could. Finally, when he was sure she was done, he sat back on his haunches and gazed at her. Her blond hair was strewn all over the couch pillow, the flush in her cheeks and chest and those lust-drunk eyes. Perfect.

He glanced up at the TV as the game clock hit less than a minute.

“Wow, Sven. You’re really good at that.”

“Why don’t we move this upstairs? I can remind you just how talented I am at the other stuff.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Sven stood and offered her a hand, then leaned down his head and kissed her. “Head on up. I’ll be right there.”

He watched her bare ass as she bent over to pick up her leggings and spanked it.

She looked back at him with a cocked brow.

“Meet you up there, and we’ll finish what I started,” he said with a wink.

She went upstairs as he turned off the TV and made sure the doors were locked and the lights were out. He made his way up stairs only to find a naked Natalie in his bed. Fuck... this was going to be fun.