Chapter 119 Venice
Daxton
I barely slept a wink last night. And no, it wasn’t because I had those nightmares that always made me feel like snapping someone in half. It was because of the excitement that chanted inside of me.
My heart soared with so much joy that I fired an email to HR, demanding the immediate and permanent implementation of a twenty-percent salary increase for every employee.
When I looked into Verena’s eyes and talked about marriage, there was this tiny flicker of fear inside of me. What if she said no? Or she doesn’t want to get married? Or she brought up another reason like ‘babies.’
But then she defused every fear that tugged at my heartstrings as her words echoed down my ears. ‘I don’t see a ring anywhere.’
From the first time I saw her, when she took my breath away, I knew she was going to be my wife.
The problem was I didn’t know when.
And the fact that I knew that it could come to pass anytime soon made my chest tighten with an anticipation I’d never felt. So, I made Verena a huge breakfast spread. Waffles, fried eggs, boiled eggs, bacon-wrapped sausages…more food than even I could count.
I wanted to do this forever. Make breakfast for her when I have the time to.
I’d intended to wake her up with kisses and carry her all the way downstairs. Instead, my breath locked when I found her standing on the staircase, in her pink silk nightgown that skimmed her thighs, her lips parted in surprise. “Daxton…” her words trailed as her eyes swept through the dining.
My heart thudded hard and fast as I took her in. Heaven, she looked breathtaking and the urge to fuck her in this gown sent blood straight into my dick.
I steadied my breathing, walking to the base of the stairs while she returned her gaze to me with that shocked look on her face. “Is there a feast? Are we expecting guests?”
I chuckled. She didn’t even let me speak.
“Did Matilda make so much food this early?”
“Matilda? I gave her the day off—” the twenty-percent raise applied to her and all the people who worked under me. The clean jobs. The dirty ones.
“—and I made all of this on my own and yes it is a feast. For two,”
She sucked in a sharp gasp, taking a few steps down the stairs while I slid a hand above her waist, drowning in that sweet strawberry scent before pressing a kiss to her cheeks. “You made this. How do you expect me to finish all of this,”
“You have to. I spent almost two hours on this…”
She spun in my hold, as I stole the words from her mouth with a kiss that lingered for minutes.
Verena hummed, stuffing her mouth with waffles as she pointed for me to the syrup. “I’m jealous, how do you cook better than me…” she said, her cheeks puffed with sweetness while I drizzled the syrup over her stacks.
“Because I am better. The better man. The better everything,” I smirked.
Her lips lifted in a sneer. “No one is a better cook than me,”
I dropped my jaw in my palm, gazing at her with so much love buzzing through me. “Well, you just complimented me now. You said I was better,”
She shook her head. “I don’t remember saying that,”
“Verena, you agreed to marry me. You can’t back out later, okay?”
There was this sudden glow of mischief in her eyes as a teasing smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. “What if you propose to me and I refuse to take the ring. What are you going to do,”
I played along. “Nothing much. Forcing the ring down your finger and smacking you on the ass for even daring to say no,”
She burst out laughing.
“You are something else,”
I was serious. That was probably what I was going to do. Force it down her finger and glue it in place.
Silence pervaded between us for a long minute, while I stared at her—completely mesmerized with those tiny sparks in the brown of her eyes before she broke it.
“Daxton, if we could have kids, how many would you want?”
That question hit me straight in the heart. Kids? I had never given a second thought about them.
“Kids?” I repeated. “Probably one or two,”
None.
I didn't care for them.
“If I could, I would have six,”
My jaw dropped and before I knew it, I was already laughing. “Why would you want to have six…one…two…three…four…five…six! Six children, Verena,”
She smiled, a flicker of sadness in her eyes. “It is not like I can have any though. I was just saying,”
My heart clenched. Stupid me. Why did I have to laugh?
“I didn’t mean it that way…”
She looked up at me with a small, sad smile on her lips. “Lately, I can’t stop thinking about that incident in Venice…when I lost the baby,”
The air in the dining room shifted as I leaned in, holding her gaze while something cold ran through my blood. “It happened in Venice?”
Verena swirled her fork into nothing. “Yes, I fell from the second floor. It happened when I leaned over the railing,”
My heart twisted in my chest.
“There was so much blood. So much pain that I passed out and when I regained consciousness, I was already on a stretcher. I could still remember Kian, holding my hand when I overheard the surgeon saying they would have to evacuate the womb due to severe hemorrhage…”
“Evacuation,” I repeated.
She nodded.“After the surgery, Kian came to me with a look that will be forever registered in my head. His eyes were sunken with grief as he delivered bad news to me. Some shit about how we lost the baby and how I wouldn’t be able to conceive anymore…” her voice cracked in the end.
My heart softened, a wave of emotions crashing through me. Tears glistened in her eyes and I could see how hard she was trying to fight them back as I reached for her hand and took it, squeezing it softly.
“Are you sure you want to keep talking about this?”
She sucked in a shaky breath. “Yes…”
“And that time, we lost a friend from college because of a car crash so we had to return to Dallas immediately after the surgery. Those were really dark times,”
Heaviness settled in my chest. The things she went through—I wish I could change them. I let my lips brush through her knuckles, hoping it would warm her heart somehow. “Did you return for follow-ups?”
“No. Kian and I didn’t talk about that traumatic incident except for a discussion on the other options we wanted to take. Only discussions though…they never made it anywhere. So, yeah that was what happened…” she forced a smile. A wistful one.
I released a sigh, rising to my feet while walking towards her. I leaned in, chin nuzzled on her shoulders as I wrapped my hands around her upper torso.
“You are the strongest woman I have ever seen and I love you so much,”
She whimpered softly, dabbing her tears. “You are actually going to make me cry and I don’t want to cry,” I planted soft kisses on her cheeks.
“Tell me what you want and I will do it for you, anything,”
Verena twisted in my hold, teary brown eyes locking with mine as a small smile appeared on her face. “Come watch a movie with me tonight…I bought us tickets.
I knew this was her steering the conversation into another direction so I went along with it. “And you should go shopping, remember we have a wedding…”
Her eyes widened. “Our wedding?!” she cut in.
“Silly. My sister’s wedding.”