"You know you could have been a bit nicer," I say right after we leave the store. Somehow I managed to fill four bags with clothes. Clothes. Allie will be grown out of them all way too fast. "Kenny seems nice, you should be friends."

"He touched you," is all he says.

"And it's not like I've died." I stop walking, staring at the Starbucks across from us. "Can we get coffee?"

Atlas nods, sighing right when a soft smile tugs at his lips. But before we would walk into yet another store, his eyes meet mine with nothing but seriousness. "Don't talk about your death, the thought alone gives me a heart attack."

Now my heart might be experiencing some sort of heat attack. He can't say things like that, not when I'm not ready to wrap my arms around his neck, kiss him until we're breathless while I whisper "I love you" right into his mouth.

I really wish I could, but for whatever reasons, my head says I can't. I love Atlas, I know I do. But something just doesn't seem right yet. I feel as though there's still things to happen that'll ruin everything. It's been far too fairytale-like right from the start. Something that's this good...it can only be too good to be true. The catch is yet to come. Like an ex-girlfriend, for instance.

"Promise." I grin at him, then push the stroller filled with four bags of baby clothes down the street to get the three of us, and the clothes, over to our car. Better to put those away before walking into Starbucks, right?

As we approach the car, Atlas unlocks it, helping me—with one hand only—to get the bags into the car. As the stroller has to go into the trunk, the bags will have to go to the backseats. But still out of reach for Alison. God knows, these bags might crush that poor thing.

"Oh, Atlas." I turn to him as I close the door, fidgeting with my fingers. "This is kind of awkward, but..." He smirks like he knows exactly what I'm going to say. But he can't possibly know of it. "For whatever reasons, my bank account no longer exists. Which is odd because I still have tons of debt to pay off. Anyway, you might have to pay for coffee." Yup. Awkward. And seriously embarrassing.

He presses his lips together, not saying anything for a minute straight. Then, he decides to nod and holds a hand out for me to take. As I take it, his lips brush my knuckles before he drops our interlocked hands and we start walking back towards Starbucks.

-♡-

"You're not indebted, Sierra," Atlas speaks as he walks into the kitchen. Allie is asleep in her crib upstairs, or so I hope. Atlas wanted to put her down as it seems she prefers Atlas doing that. In the meantime, I decided to bake a few chocolate chip cookies.

"I am. Which is why I don't understand why and how the bank just put an end to my account. I'm still employed, even though I don't technically work a lot. I had tons of money in my account too; haven't been spending anything of the last six pay checks. God, do you think they'll give it to me still? If not, I'll be mad-mad."

I don't have to look at Atlas to know he's sitting by the island, his head being held up by his hands as his elbows are propped on the island counter. And, of course, his eyes linger on my ass because I'm swaying my hips to the music that's coming from the kitchen speaker. I turned the volume down enough to still be able to hear when Allie cries, though.

"Sweetheart, you're not indebted," he repeats. "It's all paid for. And you don't need a bank account because you've access to mine. Full rights to it. Well, except really high numbers, I'll get notified and asked for permission first. It's the bank's protocol. I also get notified when I order something online that's a bit more pricy."

I start to cough, dropping the tray in my hands onto the counter before turning around. "YOU DID WHAT?!" He couldn't have possibly gotten access to my finances. How the fuck would he? He didn't even have—never mind, he did have my bank information. But still, how did he get access to my private finances? Like my goddamn debt.

"I paid off your debt. Can't have my wife be indebted when I have more than enough money to still bless our great-grandchildren with a life without struggles," he says like it's nothing.

I cross my arms, wincing as they brush my sensitive nipples. "Why, am I embarrassing you?"

Atlas shakes his head immediately, ready to get off his seat but he doesn't. He stays seated because he knows I'd tell him not to touch me anyway. There is no need for him to get up and walk over to me.

God, how could he do this? I was the one getting myself into this mess in the first place, I didn't need anyone paying off what I couldn't yet.

"Answer me, Storm. Am I embarrassing you because I couldn't pay for the renovations of my mother's grave?"

Atlas intertwines his own hands, resting his chin on top of them. He breathes deeply, calmly. "Sierra, that wasn't just a grave renovation, and you know that. I paid off Cody's part of this renovation years ago. I assume you both shared the costs, so I know you didn't have to pay almost a million dollars for that."

So what? Doesn't give him the right to what? have his IT guys hack into my bank account and send him insights of my finances?

"Do you know how long it would have taken you to pay that off? You barely make five thousand a month."

"So what, Atlas? Then it would have taken me a couple of years! But that's not your problem!" I rub my temples, getting a headache from this conversation.

"A couple of years? Did you try doing the maths for it? Cause I have. I pay you $30 an hour, which is far more than what my other PR people get, by the way. That gets you up to $4,800 if you work 8h from Monday to Friday, 20 days in total." He pauses. "Anyway, dividing the goddamn million dollars you owed to whoever by 4,800, that makes 208 months until you'd pay it off, without spending one cent of your pay checks. 208 months are equal to 17.3 years. And by the small amount you were paying, it would have taken you your whole life."

Like I said, I got into some real mess. "So be it. I got myself into the shit. I was ready to pay it off even if it would have taken me my whole goddamn life."

Atlas closes his eyes, obviously losing his patience with me. I know he meant well, and I'm grateful he wanted to help me, but that's a million dollars we're talking about. Not $50. "Why can't you be more like Cody? He didn't say a word when I paid off his debt. God, I paid for his wedding and honeymoon. I had absolutely nothing to do with either of those days."

One loud Ha! slips out of me. "If you want someone like Cody, why don't you try date him? You'd make a real great couple, don't you think?" I admit, that was a really shitty thing to say. I even managed to hurt my own feelings by voicing this.

"Maybe I should." Ouch. Yeah, I deserved that.

The realisation of what he's just said seems to hit him instantly. His expression falls, panic taking over as he jumps off his seat and walks into my direction. I wipe at my eyes, removing the tears that are spilling over. I don't have a reason to cry, so I won't let them come out. If only they'd stop...

"Well, thank you for wasting your money on my debt. Didn't need to do that." I chuckle with a cry, trying to make my way out of the kitchen.I just want to rip my heart out of my chest, hand it to Atlas and watch him stomp all over it before I can run away.

"Sierra, I didn't mean that," he says, pressing me against the fridge, his hands cupping my face. I want to push him away, scream at him, but the warmth of his hands is far too comforting. His touch is too welcoming to draw a bad reaction out of me. "I love you, sweetheart. You know I do." He kisses my forehead, stroking his thumbs along my skin. "You're perfect, okay? I don't want anyone but you. And no, I am not embarrassed by you in the slightest. If anything, you should be embarrassed of me."

I shake my head, ready to disagree but he continues to speak before I get the chance to. "I just wanted to help you. Whatever you were paying off, it must have been some real shit if the number was that high. I don't want you having to worry about anything. Not your past, not your finances, nothing. You're no longer single. You're married and you have a child you have to care for. There's no need to dwell in the past when I can simply pay a bit amount of money. And I gladly do that for you." So it seems.

"A million dollars is not 'a bit'," I let him know, speaking through hiccup-sobs.

Atlas presses his mouth to mine, kissing me with nothing but pure love. The pieces of my heart that just broke off a minute ago seem to be right back in it's place like they never fell off. Atlas is goddamn gorilla glue or something.

He doesn't say anything as we pull away from the kiss, neither do I. But Atlas takes his phone from his pocket, unlocking it before opening an app. I'm not sure what he's doing, but I'm being enlightened a moment later as he turns his phone towards me.

He's showing me his bank account. Showing me a number I didn't even know existed. It's barely fitting on the screen, Atlas has to turn his phone sideways to make it fit.

I'm not sure I ever wanted to see this, sure I was wondering how much I could really spend of his money ever since his comment months ago. The comment saying I could try spending it all. Now I know it's impossible.

I think my breath might be stuck somewhere. It's not my lungs. Perhaps not even my body anymore.

"I did not even see the million leaving my bank account, Sierra," he says, checking the time on top of the screen. Just as it hits 19:30, Atlas refreshes the page and the numbers change, adding—what I can tell from the new transaction showing up on the financial status section—almost to three million dollars. "Another three million, if not more will be added in another thirty minutes."

"Y-you said you make one hundred thousand every thirty minutes, not three million." That has to be the business bank account, right? Right??? "That's like 144 million dollars in one day."

Atlas nods, putting his phone away. "Good 4.3 billion a month." A beat passes as his head comes down to mine, our foreheads pressing together. "I don't talk about my money, Sierra. It makes me uncomfortable. I don't like bragging with what I have. Even just owning that much makes me feel bad because I know there are people out there that could use even just 0.00001% of my monthly income. I told you it's one hundred thousand because it was the lowest I could possibly go." He takes another deep breath, closing his eyes as he says, "I'd rather pay one million dollars to have you all for myself and not find out some guy named Clark has some kind of dibs on you in a few years."

I suppress a chuckle. "Or I have to go to prison, but sure, Clark it is."

"That wouldn't happen. I'd bail you out." He sure would. Atlas's hands slide down my body, resting right on my ass, giving my cheeks a firm squeeze. "God, I, too, miss sex." His hands reach underneath the skirt of my dress, feeling my ass without the fabric in between, except for my panties.

"Thank you, Atlas. I mean it. You didn't have to do it though."

"I know. But like I said, Clark. I don't like sharing you." He slaps my ass, making me yelp yet somehow the pain flows right into my abdomen in form of heat. My pussy pulsates, causing my eyes to widen as I realise this just turned me on. Atlas laughs, apparently being able to read my mind. "Now, that's interesting." Smirking, he slaps his palm to my ass again, but this time a moan comes out of me, not a yelp.

"I love you." The words escape me before I even realise they were threatening to do so.

One second, Atlas looks at me with shock, and the next his lips slam down onto mine, his tongue granting itself access into my mouth. He kisses me. Our teeth clinking together, his hips rocking towards mine, his hands still squeezing my ass.

Atlas makes a raspy sound in his throat, kind of like he's dying on the inside from frustration. "I love you, Sierra." The lack of the missing too doesn't go lost on me, but with his lips back on mine I quickly lose interest in asking about it.

Atlas lifts me off the floor, my legs wrapping around his hips. I can feel his erection press against my body, rubbing a sensitive spot that elicits a moan from my mouth.

He bites down onto my bottom lip, then glides his tongue right over it before sucking on mine. Dear God, I never want to stop kissing this man. Never. Let me die with his taste on my tongue.

"Atlas," I try to say but fail because he carries me right upstairs into our bedroom.

"Tell me why your debt was this high," he demands, though I'm not sure if it's because he truly wants to know or because he fears slipping inside of me if I don't tell him something unpleasant right now. "I need to know if I have to be prepared for someone named Clark showing up. If so, Allie will take taekwondo classes from the second she learns how to stand on two feet. Someone will have to help me murder a man after all."

Atlas lays me down on our bed, kissing up my legs as he crawls on top of me. My heart picks up the pace, beating faster than usual.

The closer he gets to my pussy, the hotter the air I'm breathing seems to get. My chest rises and falls faster than it ever has before, adrenaline pumping through my veins in the speed of light.

"Tell me, sweetheart," he mutters, biting down on a spot on my inner thighs, soothing the little sting by pressing his tongue flat against it. "Is there a Clark coming my way?"

I shake my head, moaning when a finger of his slides down my clothed slit. "No," I say weakly. "It's just..." His fingers press down right over my opening, not too firm or far, but enough to cut off my air supply for a second. "College," I say breathy. "Hospital Bills, medication, the grave..."

"Yeah?" He kisses my inner thigh, close enough to my pussy, he might as well have kissed me there. "Continue."

"Furniture."

"There's more."

"Drugs."

Atlas presses his hand flat to my pussy, looking up at me. His eyes give nothing of his thoughts away. "For who?"

Jesus. Why do I feel like he already knows? God, he does know. Of course he knows. He could have someone get into my finances, he most definitely had someone else find out what the money was for as well.

"Your..." my voice gets caught, straining from answering. But I have to. Not because I definitely owe him an answer, but because I don't want to keep secrets from Atlas. "Your brother he..."

"He used you to get them, didn't he?"

I nod. "I didn't consume any, Atlas."

"I know, sweetheart." Atlas tugs at my panties, pulling them down my legs. "You've got the green light, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Permission to eat you for the next few hours?"

Hours?! "God, please."

Atlas smirks, then looks over to the baby monitor. I do the same. Allie is sound asleep, only doing the usual baby movements.

"Count," he commands, lowering his face before his tongue slides through my folds as he licks from my opening up to my clit.

"What?" I ask with a slight groan filled with pleasure.

"Count your orgasms. We have a record to break."