I have to admit; Atlas's abs are way too defined for me to stay away. To be fair, I just discovered them. Well, I'd say I did before, but I can't exactly remember that night.

My brother is still right opposite of Atlas and me, but somehow my brain makes him disappear the second my palm comes in touch with Atlas's skin.

Not only is this—sort of—the first time I'm seeing him shirtless, it's the first time I am touching him. Sucks my brother has the be here as I do.

Atlas's breath quickens, his chest rising faster than it did before I started to trace my fingers along his upper body, especially along the ripples of his abs and the outlines of the few tattoos.

"Sierra." He says my name in a warning tone, still speaking a bit breathy though.

My hormones are driving me insane. The plain sight of his chest has my pussy throb for this man. It's annoying, truly. I don't even like this guy that much. Clearly, my body doesn't get the memo.

To be fair, Atlas is ridiculously hot. For being twenty-eight years old, almost twenty-nine, he's in a damn good shape. His jawline is so defined, I'd fear cutting myself if I touched it. His eyes are the same colour as the sea, deep blue but still shining light.

His hair is always perfectly made, I barely ever see him in a messy state. One like he's in right now. Shirtless, not neat but sorta roughed up hair. And mind you, this man always, always wears a suit. And if he doesn't, it's because he's about to go to sleep.

He even wears these things on the weekends, when he doesn't plan on going anywhere. Talk about being a CEO. He lives professionalism.

You think he's mad he fucked it up by knocking up an employee? Well, sucks for him, I guess. At least this baby will have great genes. Something good has to come out of him. It sure won't be his gloomy personality...I hope.

Atlas lays a hand on mine, removing it from his torso. He leans down until his mouth is close to my ear, whispering, "You're lucky your brother is here, otherwise you'd be screaming my name as I fuck you senseless."

-♡-

"What do you think, boy or girl?" I ask as Atlas enters my bathroom. I'm sitting almost to in the sink as I do my makeup for my brother's wedding.

It's supposed to be a little lighter as my dress is...something. I still don't understand why Athena desperately wants her guests to wear white. I also don't understand why Atlas wants me to wear this dress in particular.

I, on my part, think it's too much. Especially for a wedding that's not mine. It's too revealing. I mean, the entire top half is see-through, apart from that flowery-lace right over my boobs. And it's still not covering everything, mostly just my nipples and the side of my boobs.

And the bottom part? Jesus, one wrong move and it'll all be over.

"I think it'll be a baby," Atlas answers, leaning against the doorframe as he looks me up and down through the mirror.

"I hope it's a boy. Then, if I ever have another child, he can do all the protecting like Cody did with me," I say.

My eyes find his through the mirror. I've seen him in suits daily for months now, and yet he never seizes to disappoint when I look at him.

He clenches his jaw, as if something about my words irk him.

"I didn't know black was the new white," I giggle, noticing he's wearing a black suit, not a white one.

"Black suits are allowed."

I nod, just accepting what he said. It's his problem when Cody and Athena are upset and throw him out.

"Sweetheart, why are you sitting in the sink?" he asks, looking a lot like he's suppressing a smile. Or he just looks less mad than usual. Either way, he looks...different. I don't know wants off, but something has to be.

"I think you might need glasses, Mr. Storm," I say, chuckling. I turn my attention back to my face, needing to finish my makeup. I only have half an hour left before we're leaving, so I've to hurry the fuck up.

I'm not wearing my dress yet as I didn't want to get it dirty. My hair is done; I've decided on a half-up half-down kinda hairstyle. It's honestly the easiest thing. And since Atlas is making me wear a tiara, it was the only hairstyle I could think of.

Just when I finish applying my mascara, Atlas strokes his hands down my arms. I didn't even notice he was coming closer. "You're awfully sarcastic today, Ms. Bloom."

Our eyes meet in the mirror. I beam a smile, a mischievous one. "Do you expect me to be scared of you, Mr. Storm?"

His eyes narrow as he wets his lips. "I think you should be, yes."

"I'm not," I almost whisper. "I know my way around assholes like you."

Atlas lays his hands on my waist, his fingertips toying with the edge of my top. I lean into him, letting the back of my head rest against the front of his shoulder.

Then his hands slip underneath my shirt, carefully inching closer to my growing belly.

I'm only eighteen weeks along, there's not much to feel or expect to feel. Sure, I have a belly now but nothing is moving, for the outside to feel, at least. Yet having Atlas touch my stomach seems about right to me. And like this whole situation between us isn't weird enough, this simple touch awakens a rush of butterflies...again.

"Atlas?" He hums in acknowledgment. "Hypothetically speaking, if I wasn't your employee, could you imagine falling in love with me?"

I can feel him tense, but he doesn't remove his hands from my body. He usually does that when he tenses, not letting me feel it for too long, which is why I'm surprised he lets it happen. "How is that hypothetical?"

"I am your employee. And I asked if you could imagine it happening."

Atlas shakes his head. "It's not hypothetical if I can imagine it."

"That's not how hypothetical questions work."

"Yeah, but usually these questions aren't 'could you potentially fall in love with me?' They're more like 'imagine you killed someone. What would you do?'."

I sigh. "Can you imagine someone stabbing you?" He nods. "Does that mean it happened or is happening right now?"

"It could happen. I'm sure some of my employees daydream of it daily," he says, making me laugh. "Especially this one blonde woman. She occasionally drops her knife while eating anything that requires one. She might as well 'accidentally' drop it onto me while I'm sleeping."

"Oh yeah," I agree. "She might even sabotage your food and make you eat a blade or something."

Atlas rests his chin on the top of my head, still staring at me through the mirror.

"So, could you imagine falling in love with me?" I ask again.

Atlas checks his wristwatch, avoiding to answer my question. "You only have fifteen minutes left to get dressed, sweetheart."

I gasp. That can't be.

I grasp his wrist, bringing it into my view. "I have twenty-five minutes," I correct, feeling relieved as I don't have to rush putting the dress on.

"Fifteen. We'll need five minutes to get you down the stairs, and then another five until you decided which donut to choose, only to end up taking the whole box."

I open my mouth as if to speak but immediately close it again. I let out a heavy breath, not being sure what to say.

"I do not need five minutes to get downstairs," I end up saying. I really don't. It just takes me a little longer because as it turns out, polished marble flooring can get quite slippery if one's not careful. "Atlas, I need you to get new flooring and new stairs."

"And why is that?"

I struggle to turn my body around so I could look at him directly, no longer through a mirror. But luckily, I don't have to struggle too long because Atlas ends up lifting me up and turning me. Like I'm some child.

And God, he does it so effortlessly. It's like I weigh nothing to him at all.

"Imagine this baby running around as a toddler, and then it slips, maybe falls down the stairs even because your flooring is too...shiny and slippery."

He chuckles. Again. That's a third, I think? "Sierra, a toddler, or any other being, can also slip on wooden floor. It's called tripping and falling."

"No, it's called a death trap."

"Fine." He takes my face in his hands, intensifying our eye contact. "I'll get them changed for you." A second later, Atlas presses his lips to my forehead, carefully and with a gentleness I've never known existed.

"You always do this," I tell him. He frowns at me in confusion. "The forehead kiss. You keep on doing it."

As always, Atlas goes with ignoring me. He also does this all the time. Whenever he doesn't feel like addressing something, he will ignore it, pretending like it's never been worded.

-♡-

I'm glad Cody decided against flying his guests out to some island and get married there. Beach weddings are annoying. Or so I'd assume. I've never been to one, or any wedding at all.

But it seems annoying. The sand getting everywhere, the sun bothering, a wedding dress at the beach. No, thank you.

Cody seemingly felt the same way, as so did Athena. The cold is way better anyway.

Athena and Cody are getting married on a yacht. A fucking yacht. It's not even a small one. I'd assume they spent millions of dollars for this. Not sure how they were able to pay for it, but go them.

Perhaps Atlas helped them out. I mean, apparently he's been my brother's best friend for years. I'm sure it wouldn't bother the asshole himself much to do one tiny thing to allow his best friend a dream wedding.

And it do be a dream.

The decorations are so beautiful, and surprisingly all kept in white. Somehow I have expected Athena getting her dream of a black wedding made come true.

We're inside the yacht as it is pretty cold outside. But I don't think the outside could have been made this magical.

There are tons of fairy lights hanging from the ceiling, as well as a bunch of dahlias put together in bouquets. How the hell did they manage to make flowers hanging upside-down look magical?

In the middle of the room is an enormous vase filled with a hell bunch of white roses, formed into the most perfect ball of flowers I have ever seen. Every table has a total of six lit candles on top of them, as well as a small vase filled with a couple of white china mums, roses and orchids.

Whoever planned this wedding, they deserve to be paid double the amount they've got.

"Do you like it?" Atlas asks, ripping me out of my daydream, the one of me ever having a wedding this beautiful.

This is the very first wedding I'm attending, and it has just ruined every single one that follows for me.

I nod, still a bit speechless from this venue. "This is better than getting married in a castle."

"You would have prefered that?" I can see his eyebrows draw together as his head slightly cocks to the side.

Not that it really matters. This is Cody and Athena's wedding, not mine. I don't even have someone to get married to.

"Personally, no. I'm not some princess. Though, I'm pretty sure Athena would have prefered a castle over the sea." Where is she anyway? How is it Atlas and I are here first when this is Athena and Cody's wedding?

I always thought the groom and bride would be at the venue first. Well, apart from wedding planner, maybe? and some other worker that might be of importance. But not the guests.

"Oh, my God!" I can hear someone shriek. It sounds like a woman, but nothing like Athena. As I turn around, I'm greeted by a twenty-year-old (I'd guess) woman who looks awfully a lot like Atlas.

She has the same hair colour, the same shade of blue in her eyes, her lips are a bit fuller but her nose is identical to Atlas's.

Then I can hear Atlas groan next to me, gently pressing his hand against my lower back.

"You've really outdone yourself here, Atlas," the woman says, grinning as wide as she possibly could. "Wait until mum sees this!" She gasps loudly, holding her hands to her mouth. "Oh, sweet baby Jesus. You must be Sierra then! God, you're even prettier than I imagined!"

Atlas chuckles and shakes his head disbelievingly.

The woman, who I assume is Summer, puts her hands to her hips, bending a bit more forward as she says; "Did you just chuckle, sir I-only-know-emotionless?" Then she turns to me. "What have you done to my brother? He hasn't made a sound like this in...probably ever."

"Sierra, this is my sister, Summer. Like I said, she's a lot like you," Atlas says. Before I get the chance to speak, Atlas turns to his sister and asks, "Summer-sun, where's mum anyway?"

Summer's nose scrunches up in what looks like disgust. "Thunderstorm, your mother is still in the car, trying to convince your brother to get on this yacht."

"You do know you're not a cousin, right?" Summer starts to laugh, throwing her head back into her neck. "I'm just saying, they're as much your family as they are mine," Atlas adds and only now do I realise what he is referring to.

But wait a second, why would Atlas's family come to my brother's wedding when Athena told me it was a small wedding? Perhaps because of the gender reveal? Well, unless the Storm family is way closer to my brother than I thought.

"I absolutely love your dress, Sierra. It fits the venue so well." Summer smiles as she looks me up and down.

Atlas does the very same, though he also pulls on one side of my dress and adjusts it. This is going to get really embarrassing today, I can feel it.

Is fits the venue? My dress has nothing to do with the venue of this wedding. And why the hell isn't Summer wearing a white dress?

Oh God. Athena changed the dress-code. That's the only logical explanation. Kill me now.

"Uncle Atlas!" A little, maybe three years old, boy yells as he runs into the room. He immediately jumps into Atlas's arms as he's close enough.

It's the cutest fucking thing I have ever seen.

I could cry watching Atlas pick up the boy and twirl him around. As Atlas sets him back down, he kneels down to the boy's height and they do a special handshake. I might actually start to cry.

"That's Grey," Summer tells me. "The son of one other brother, there are three stupid men in total. Though, neither of them is gloomy and...Atlas."

I wonder when "Atlas" turned into a description, but it totally fits. Him, at least.

"How many siblings are there?" I find myself asking. Seriously, how do I know so little of Atlas? He knows half my background, and I still know nothing. Well, I know his father died.

"Five in total," a man that could easily be mistaken for Atlas himself speaks from the entrance doorway. "I see, Atlas still doesn't talk about either of us." Behind him are two other women, one younger looking one, which I assume is another sister, and the other is probably their mother.

That's just great. I always wanted to meet my fake-boyfriend's family on my brother's wedding.

"Sierra, meet Rai, Winter and my mother," Atlas says, introducing his family to me. "Everyone, this is Sierra."

They're all smiling at me so warmly, so...welcomely. And his mother, God, she's smiling the widest of them all.

"Oh, darling. Atlas wouldn't stop talking about you on the phone," his mother tells me, as she takes me in for a hug. A hug I did not see coming at all.

"He talked about me?"

"No," his mother laughs, "but he should have." Her eyes wander over to Atlas, narrowing the slightest in an attempt to look mad. "How far along are you, darling?"

Seriously, Atlas should have given me a heads up before putting me in a situation like this. There are four of them. Four people with probably tons of questions for me.

Wait, didn't Rai say five siblings? Where is the fifth?

"Eighteen weeks," I tell her, trying to offer a smile that doesn't say I'd rather go cry right now.

"Eighteen weeks," she repeats to me. "Did you hear that, guys? And Atlas kept her from us for this long."

I can hear Atlas grunt madly. Is it weird that I kind of miss his mad frowns, intense stares and even the disapproving grunts?

Don't get me wrong, Atlas isn't some sunshine boy around me, but he acts different nowadays. He is softer and more gentle with me. He does everything I ask him to do, and even more. I do love this side of him, and I really appreciate his help at all times...but I still miss the boss I used to hate.

It definitely is weird to miss it.

As I am looking at every single person in front of me, I notice Rai in particular starring a bit too far south on me. It's not just odd, it makes me feel uncomfortable as well.

But I don't seem to be the only one noticing it. Atlas's face turns into stone, presenting the man I complained about missing just a second ago. He turns Rai around, forcing him to look at the door.

Then he walks over to me, kneeling down right in front of me as he fixes my dress.

God, I knew it. This dress will be the death of me. It's not that I'm naked underneath, but I still feel like I'm flashing everyone my bare pussy like I'm some prostitute on drugs.

"It's not my fault you're letting her walk around like this," says Rai, and I've never felt the urge to hit someone in the face stronger than I do now.

"And she looks fucking perfect in this dress," Atlas barks. "Sierra could walk around in lingerie and I'd cheer her on."

"You're right, Atlas," his mother says, "Sierra looks gorgeous." She looks at me with warmth in her eyes, beaming a smile.

"Stunning," Summer corrects. "I can't wait until we're officially sisters," she tells me, giggling as she takes my hands in hers and jumps up and down. "Don't mind Rai, he tends to act like our other brother sometimes. God, that guy is a nightmare. He is even worse than Atlas, behaviour wise, not grump-wise. He will show up a little later, had his kid to pick up from daycare."

I just nod, not being sure what else to do, or say for that matter.

"I can't believe Atlas didn't even let us meet you before the wedding," Winter speaks just as excitedly as Summer does. She is looking at her brother with something that says she's mad but not surprised.

Hold on a second.

"You're here for my brother's wedding, right? Why would you have wanted to meet me before that?"

Summer laughs while Winter looks at me with a huge question mark over her head. Rai doesn't seem too bothered at all, he's busy explaining to Grey that he cannot eat the roses from the tables.

Atlas takes a few steps back. It's like he fears something being thrown at him at any second now.

"Oh, I didn't know Cody is getting married a second time. I thought he was happy with Athena," their mother speaks, looking right at Atlas.

My head snaps towards him as well. "Excuse me?"