Atlas

ᴛʜɪʀᴛᴇᴇɴ

"Relax, Sierra," he speaks, sounding kinder than ever before. Still demanding, but kinder.

The elevator doors open and we're being greeted by Eleanor, the receptionist. At first she smiles at me, but then her eyes wander over to Storm and her entire face freezes into something forced.

We step outside of the elevator, but don't start to walk yet.

"Good morning, Mr. Storm," she says monotonously. He doesn't acknowledge her.

"You should be nicer to your employees," I whisper, trying to step away from him. Of course I don't get away, because the second I try, Storm moves his hand from the small of my back to my waist, and pulls me back in.

He leans down, lowering his mouth to my ear. "I'm plenty nice to you. That's way beyond the level of nice I offer to anyone." Storm pushes me in front of him so that we're face to face, and I smile at him, widely.

"I mean, you did buy me donuts."

He nods. Once. The strict nod I witness him do a lot.

Not just some pre-packaged ones from a grocery store. He made an effort to get us to Dunkin' Donuts so I could choose which ones I wanted. And he didn't even complain about being even later for work than he already was because I took a little too long to decide.

To be fair, I wanted chocolate-glazed donuts, but they had so many options, it took me a while to choose. It's a miracle he didn't buy the whole store so we could leave, to be honest. He just stood there, waiting patiently, while recommending donuts to me without even knowing if they'd be any good.

"Sierra, if you need a break, you'll take it, okay? Don't overwork yourself, and let me know when you're leaving the building." His eyes wander down to my stomach, then back up to my eyes. Is he worried? That's kinda adorable.

Finally, Storm leads me to the other elevator, away from the handful of people in the lobby. But to my surprise, Storm presses the 11th floor only. Did he seriously forget I was here with him? In just two seconds?

My office is on the fifth floor, it would be way smarter for me to exit first. Guess Storm doesn't use logical thinking very often.

"There you are, Atl- Mr. Storm," Athena says when the elevator doors open. Her face screams confusion when she sees me with him. "Is there something I should know, Sierra?" Her eyes wander from my purse hanging from Storm's shoulder, over to me and back.

"Your best friend is pregnant, Athena."

Oh, okay. Cool. Let the man with no emotions rip off the band-aid like it's nothing.

Wait, when did he start calling Athena by her first name? I'm usually not present on this floor, but that's new, isn't it?

Athena's jaw drops, and she doesn't quite seem like she's able to close it again.

"She'll be staying in my office for the while being," he says, walking me towards the enormous doors leading into his office.

I am? No. That's too much Storm in my life. It's bad enough I see him at home every day since yesterday. No way I can live with sharing an office.

And why would he want to share his office? That's totally stupid. And unnecessary. I'm good with sharing my office with Beau. Actually, I prefer that to sharing one with Storm.

Oh, god. Beau. I totally forgot about him. How am I ever going to explain to him that I am pregnant with Storm's child and make him believe I've been dating him for a while? He knows I went out with Ted. But then again, he sort of overheard my last conversation with Ted where I said I did have a boyfriend or something like that. And I never answered Beau's question either.