"You're home!" Sierra shrieks in a whispery-tone as I walk into the living room. She's holding the cheeseball in her arms, rocking her so she'd fall asleep.

"Is she still being stubborn?" I ask, kissing Sierra on the lips before I sit down next to her. She looks so exhausted, I immediately feel guilty for leaving her alone with Allie for hours.

"She woke up after you hung up. Ever since then she's been crying. I have no idea why. She just stopped a minute ago." And just when those words leave her mouth, Allie starts to cry again. "SEE!"

"Diaper?"

Sierra shakes her head. "All clean. I wasted two diapers on her. God, she's so wasteful."

I wrap an arm around my wife, pulling her close enough to the point were our thighs touch. I lean my head against hers, looking down at Allie in Sierra's arms. "I missed you, too," I tell her, remembering the quick words she threw into the call before she hung up on me.

"Sir, you are obsessed." Can't argue with that. I am obsessed with Sierra. Perhaps that's not really healthy, but I don't give a shit. "You know what I realised?"

"Hm?" I hum, still just looking and admiring my daughter while breathing in the scent that is my wife. The woman I love more than I've ever loved anyone.

With my free hand, I tickle Allie's stomach with one finger. A second later, Allie's hand wraps around my finger, holding me in a firm grip. Why are babies stronger than some adults?

"Every single person in this household has sucked on my nipples. Except for me."

I let out a mixture of a sigh and groan, a sound that signals frustration and amusement. "Sierra." I'm pretty sure her name sounded more like a breath than confidence, which her laughter confirms.

"Does me talking about my breasts make you horny?"

"Sweetheart, I have a hard-on the second my body comes even remotely in contact with yours, even just the thought of you gets me hard as a rock."

Suddenly, Sierra hands Allie over to me, shaking out her arms before she lays a hand down onto my crotch, feeling my erection through my suit pants.

"Sierra, you need to stop," I tell her, though feeling her palm against my hard-on is the last thing I want to stop feeling. Apart from my love for her, but I highly doubt that's ever going to leave my body. "There's a baby in my arms."

"I really miss sex, you know." She let's out a groan, falling over on my lap ever so dramatically.

"Sweetheart, I doubt we have time for it. With all of cheeseball's crying and your sleep deprivation, you should use the deep-sleep moments of Allie's to get some rest yourself."

"I am not sleep deprived," says Sierra while yawning. I raise my eyebrows at her, calling her out on her bullshit without having to use words. "Can we go to the park? I think Allie could use the air."

Ever since Allie reached the two month mark, Sierra feels way more at ease taking our daughter outside. Outside that isn't just the porch, garden or balcony.

We've also finally introduced Taco to her; Taco loves the cheeseball. I had a feeling he might given that he loves every other child that comes here occasionally. However, it'd be a lie if I said I wasn't nervous about it anyway.

I couldn't give Taco away, it would tear my heart in two pieces. But if he disliked Allie, growled at her or tried worse...there wouldn't be many options. He'd have to leave, or at least stay in his room, far away from Allie at all times. But that wouldn't be ideal for a dog.

Thank God that's not the case.

-♡-

One lesson I have to learn the hard way; "going to the park" does not stay with just going to the park. Especially not when your wife loves shopping. And also not when she has just given birth three months ago and now has a baby she can show off.

"Don't you think Allie would look so cute in this?" Sierra giggles, holding up the tenth pink dress in the past five minutes.

I'm not quite sure how we got here, but as we were walking back from the park, a simple "Hey, look, there's a Janie and Jack store right around the corner of the park" turned into walking in there and it being an hour later while Sierra is still looking around.

"Sweetheart, Allie will look good in anything you put her in." She's a baby. Babies usually look all cute and adorable. Except from right after they're born. They do be looking like a forbidden ball of cheese then.

Sierra grins and excitedly throws the dress into the cart. Luckily Alison is asleep in her stroller, which is standing right next to me as my wife is busy shopping. I'm seated somewhere in the back of the store, waiting for Sierra to be done shopping. But I don't think there's an end. Not any time soon, at least.

"First child?" a man seating himself next to me asks.

You can be civil, Atlas. It's just talking nicely, like you do with Sierra all the time. I nod, once. The man chuckles. "What gives it away?" Did that sound too harsh? I'm not sure. Don't care either.

"The mother of the child, usually," he answers, smiling as I look at him. Not sure what I was expecting to see, but judging by the depth of his voice, I was expecting someone...less petit.

The man has blonde hair, slim shoulders. He doesn't look athletic, more nerdy. He wears glasses, a blue and white caro shirt paired with too loose beige pants. A lot like a teacher.

"And the fact you're just sitting here watching your baby. The urge to stay in a baby store for hours on end gets less for the second one, even less for the third as clothes are just being handed down." If there is going to be more children of Sierra and I's, they sure as hell won't wear whatever their siblings wore before. "Which one is your wife?"

"Try and guess it." That should be interesting, given that there is only one woman inside of this store that doesn't glance at me every now and then. And that would be my wife.

"Aw, c'mon, Storm, you know better than to challenge me," he says, rubbing his palms together. I do?

"I don't think I know. I'm pretty sure we've never met before."

The guy's jaw drops, but then he shrugs like he's not even surprised. "Kenny Walton? We've been to High School together. You and Cody pulled me out of the dumpster that one time."

"Pretty sure that was just Cody, not me." High School me would not have done such thing. I mainly stayed by myself, the only person I truly talked to was Cody.

"Nah, you helped. Even protected me from the group of bullies. Everyone was terrified of you, even those guys." That I do remember.

I was pretty popular in High School, though not in the good way. Students feared me, even some teachers did. I never got into trouble, but I was even colder and mad-looking than I was by the time Sierra started working for me.

"Anyway, Kenny, who is your wife?" I ask, though let's be honest, I only ask because almost to every woman in here is staring at me.

He points towards a pregnant woman with two kids by her side, two boys. They look about the same age, twins, I assume. She is standing by a shelf, looking through baby bottles, though her eyes are on me.

Kenny sighs. "You still have this effect on women, don't you? They just love looking at you."

"Unfortunately." I could have been more modest about it, said I wouldn't know, perhaps. But then again, I do know women have been glancing my way a lot, even back in High School.

"Truthfully, everyone had their money bet on you never getting married. No one thought one could even make it through to you." They weren't that far off. "I would say even Cody did. Are you still in touch?"

I nod. "I'm married to his sister now."

"No way José!" He looks through the store, most definitely trying to find a woman that looks almost to identical to Cody. The only thing Cody and Sierra have in common, however, is their hair colour. "That's a whole different level of plot twist. We were guessing if there were to be a wife, it'd be like a woman from work, or a professor from college even. But the best friend's sister? Jesus, that makes so much more sense."

Does it though? No one even knew Sierra existed, so how would that make more sense? But technically, Sierra is a woman from work.

"Okay, let me see." He rubs his chin between two fingers, continuing to look around himself. Then he points towards a black-haired woman. "That's her."

Sighing, I shake my head. Hearing of Cody being my wife's sister, I think that should narrow it down to blondes with pale skin and–hold on. "Did you choose her because her clothes look expensive?"

"You're rich, aren't you? You look like you are, so I just assumed your wife would look rich as well." He shrugs like he sees nothing wrong with his thinking. "What you doing now? Job-wise, I mean."

Just as I'm about to speak, my little cheeseball starts to cry. My attention is on her instantly, but even before I could check on her, Sierra stands by the stroller, her head lingering right over it to look at our daughter.

"Why is she crying?" Sierra asks, picking Allie up. I don't provide her with an answer for two reasons. One; I have no idea why the cheeseball is crying, and two; I'm still a little shocked by how fast Sierra got here. "If she continues to be all moody, I will blame it on you, Atlas."

She turns towards me, narrowing her eyes like she's mentally murdering me. All I can do is smirk her way, noticing as her expression softens, getting lost looking at me. That is until Allie's cries make it back through her ears and Sierra rocks her while repetitively saying "Alliebear, you have to tell me what's wrong" like Alison could speak already.

"I take a new guess; that's the wife," Kenny next to me says, chuckling. "Man, the story takes on another plot twist. You're married to a ray of sunshine?"

You see, I don't know Kenny that well. In fact, not at all. I sure hope he wouldn't try to hit on my wife, he'd end up dead for all I'm trusting my possessiveness. He's not even hitting on her right now, merely stating a fact, but my blood is boiling and my hands seem to be ready to beat the shit out of him.

I do wonder what gave it away though. Not Sierra being my wife but her being "a ray of sunshine."

Perhaps her clothes? Sierra is wearing a short yellow summer dress with tiny white flowers on it. It's a low cut, though not all too low. The arms of the dress don't go higher than mid-arm, shoulder-free. And the skirt doesn't reach below mid-though.

And she looks abso-fucking-lutely stunning.

Sierra seems to find back to her usual clothing since she's losing the postpartum belly. After three months, she's almost back to her usual shape, except for her breasts. But even if she weren't, she'd still look fucking gorgeous.

Where were we? Ah, right. Kenny.

"Sierra, this is Kenny. An acquaintance from High School," I tell her, not really bothering to introduce Sierra to Kenny. I don't want him knowing her. She's mine—only for me to know.

But because Sierra does happen to be a goddamn sunshine, she extends a hand out for Kenny and introduces herself. He shakes it, though I guess he sees my narrowed eyes and the death threat I'm telling him with just my eyes, because it only takes a second before he removes his hand from my wife.

It's as though Sierra knows exactly why this handshake only lasted approximately a second, because she turns to look at me, sighing. "Be nice, Atlas. Stop scaring people away."

Kenny laughs and Sierra joins in, and all I can do is grovel in my head, muttering words and mocking hers like a middle-schooler. Be nice, Atlas. Stop scaring people away.

"He's always been that way," says Kenny, lighting a flame behind Sierra's eyes that demand more information. Somehow I forgot she's greedy for those. Every time my mother comes to visit, she is waiting for another story of when I was younger.

In a second, Sierra shoves Allie into my arms and takes a seat between Kenny and I. Allie stops to cry once I'm holding her. A chuckle slipping out when Sierra looks from me to her, saying: "Oh, come on! Seriously? Now you stop crying?"

She presses a kiss to Allie's head, stroking the tip of her finger down the bridge of Allie's nose and smiles with admiration. "She's such a daddy's girl," Sierra groans with frustration. "Alison is three months old, and she already prefers sir grumpiness to me."

Kenny smiles warmly. "I guess grumpiness seems appealing to the female brain."

I can't see Sierra's reaction as she is facing Kenny, but I can feel the shift in her vibe. She isn't all too happy with his response. I mean, who would be?

"Oh, did Atlas have many girlfriends in school? I seriously can't picture him in a relationship. Okay well, maybe I'm a bit biased because we're kind of married and I don't want to picture him with someone else but...did he?"

I did not. She should have asked me that herself if she's been interested in it.

"Not that I know of. The girls were looking after him, but he's always been unapproachable. Meaning, they've been staring from a safe distance. I do know he's been dating one girl though," Kenny says.

Usually when the topic of Lisa starts, I immediately shut it down. But I'm no longer bothered by the thought of her. It might also be a reason why she's been working for me for a while now.

Sierra turns to me as if to ask for my permission to dig deeper. When I shake my head slightly, she sighs and drops the topic. If someone tells her the story, it sure as hell won't be some guy I barely even remember. It will be me. Or Cody, because he's the only other guy involved and with the same knowledge of what went down there.

"But that's not important. They didn't stay together for long, as far as I know. It was a big thing at school, their breakup. Anyway, he's obviously much better off with you." Kenny lays a hand on Sierra's shoulder. Instantly, she tenses, holding her breath.

I'm not quite sure how to explain the way my eyes snap to Kenny with a death-glare, but he sure gets the memo. My eyes are narrowed, my blood boiling hotter than hell itself. My air getting caught in my lungs, fists clenching.

In what seems like a second, Kenny removes his hand from my wife's shoulder and I pull her right into my lap, wrapping my arms around her stomach.

Kenny chuckles, but I'm not sure it's from awkwardness, embarrassment or fear. Perhaps amusement, but I doubt it. "Guess some things never change, huh, Atlas?" I don't even need to react to know what he's talking about. My possessiveness. "Still don't like people touching what's yours."

Sierra leans her head against my body, her hand resting in the middle of my chest, pressing her palm right against my heart. The heat of her body streams to my groin right away.

"I work for an IT firm now, so if you ever have an IT problem" he takes a business card out of his pocket, handing it to Sierra since I'm keeping both of my girls in my arms "you know who to call."

I pay an entire IT firm, plus the few working in my Office Building monthly, I won't ever need his help. Yet I nod a thanks, not saying the words though. I never do. Except to Sierra—but we've already established that she's the oxygen I need to survive.

"We should go, sweetheart." I get up and try to lie Allie back into her stroller, but she's not having it. Once she's no longer in my arms, my little cheeseball turns back into a screaming pizza from Hotel Transylvania. So I keep her in my arms, accepting my fate of having to carry her to the car.