Must Love Dogs

Chapter Thirty-Six

"You are the absolute best!" She declared, putting the pickle jar down and leaving a kiss against his cheek as he coughed out a breath. "Elena," He paused, twirling his thumbs in a circular motion as she batted her eyelashes at him playfully.

"Yeah?" She asked with a hopeful tone in her voice and a sweet loving smile across her lips.

"What do you really think about marriage?" He suddenly asked, forcing her to raise an eyebrow at him. Was he really asking her opinion this early in the morning, surely this kind of talk could wait- couldn't it? Unless, he was going to...

Elena quickly shook the idea once more out of her mind. If Stefan wanted to get married to her, he would have asked her already. And, if she really wanted it too. She should have brought it up. Although, she did like living with Stefan the way that they were now. Maybe being married to him would make things even more complicated. Or, maybe- they wouldn't complicate matters at all. However, the unknown scared her and she really avoided wanting to find out.

"I'd love to be married one day, Stefan. To you. But, I just don't really think that marriages last too long nowadays. What if we wake up beside each other one morning and the first thing that both of us blurts out is "I've made a huge mistake!" She giggled at the thought as he moved to stand beside her, once again caressing her cheek and admiring how radiant she looked this early even if she had bags underneath her eyes and her hair was a disheveled mess. He still loved her.

"I don't think we would." He smiled at her, lowering his hand to the middle of her back as she leaned into him and exhaled deeply.

"I can't believe we're talking about marriage." He heard her say, closing her eyes to his touch while he kissed her temple and took a step back.

"Well, we kind of did things backwards, getting married would just make sense. I want Ben and you to have my last name. There are benefits of being married, Elena." Stefan told her, grinning a little and resting his hand against the middle of her back while he made a small circle upon the fabric of her shirt and then added in with a beaming smile. "Lots and lots of benefits."

"Are you proposing to me, without really proposing to me?" She questioned, tilting her head to the side and resting it against Stefan's shoulder as she waited for him to glance back at her. She could see the hope in his green eyes when he shrugged his shoulders back and said softly. "Maybe I am."

"Katherine!" Damon shouted, bending down and picking up what looked like his wife's t-shirt from the floor as he ran upstairs and called out her name again.

"In the bedroom!" Damon heard Katherine shout out as their bedroom door opened up just slightly and all Damon could see was his wife's leg rubbing up and down against the door frame.

"Nice to see you playing hooky this early in the morning, husband." She smirked, running her hand up and down his tie as she leaned into him and kissed his lips softly, pulling back for a minute to secure her eyes on to his face.

"What did your dad say about selling the business?" Katherine whispered against his ear while undoing a few buttons to his shirt. It had been too long since she'd seen him last. Okay, it had been more like six hours since Katherine had seen him last. Although, Katherine clearly didn't care because there was only one thing on her mind at the moment and it was keeping up with a schedule of sorts.

Damon suddenly removed her hands and inhaled sharply as she frowned at him. "Damon, are you going to talk about it or are we just going to stand here with me feeling completely ridiculous and lusting over you!" She exclaimed as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"He said that we should take over or sell it. Although, both of us would have to agree on selling it." He told her flatly, tugging off his tie and tossing it on to the floor as Katherine watched his movements. She was biting down on her tongue hard because the last thing she wanted to do was say something against her father in law. However, the urge of saying something was becoming too much to bear as she watched Damon walk past her and go into their bedroom.