"In two heartbeats," he says.
I smack his chest playfully. "Two?"
"It was a little rough leaving everything. Having you know the future is creepy sometimes, but," he stops and takes my chin in his fingers, letting me lose myself in his eyes, "Totally worth it."
"I don't know the future anymore," I tell him. "This is as far as I got."
I'm reminded of that fact when I look at my latest painting, now hanging on the mantle. It's a painting I started twenty years ago, when I was the same age I am now. It's made of warm browns and honey sunlight, like walking in a sunlit forest. I look over and see those same colors- my husband's eyes. While the painting had seemed incomplete in my previous life, it's definitely perfect now.
"Then we get to explore the future together, Ladybug." He kisses my nose.
"Hey, Mom?" Our teenage son thunders down the stairs. He has his father's smile. "Any mail for me?"
I shake my head. "Not yet. You just sent those college applications off two days ago, Marco."
"I know," Marco says, rolling his eyes as only a teenager can. "I'm just excited. Anna says she wants to go look at the university with me."
"Right," Tony says sarcastically. "Just what I want. My sixteen-year-old daughter on a college campus."
I laugh and squeeze his hand. I've loved watching with Tony as our children have grow up. He's been the best father I could imagine. I kiss Tony's cheek and Marco makes a face like he's going to be sick.
"Get a room," Marco tells us, heading to the kitchen.
"We have several," Tony shouts back. "This one is the living room."
We laugh at the joke that only parents would find funny. Marco ignores us.
Tony's laugh turns into just a smile. "We have a good life here," he says, his voice deep and rich. I nod.
"That we do." I turn to face him, looking at his handsome face that I love so much. "I'm glad you're here for it."
"Me too," he whispers. "I love you, Kimberly."
"I love you, Tony." I lose myself in those warm eyes. "I have loved you for two lifetimes, and I'm never going to stop."
I lean in and kiss him, feeling his lips meet mine. This is how the world is supposed to be. This is how our lives are supposed to be. He is mine and I am his, forever and always.
Thank you for reading "Wishful Kisses: A Fountain of Love Novella" by Krista Lakes
If you'd like to read more of Rachel and Dean's story, please check out Champagne Kisses: A Timeless Love Story! Available now in eBook, paperback, and audiobook formats!
Champagne Kisses: A Timeless Love Story
What's more important to a soldier- his love of his country, or his love of a woman?
In the summer of 1990, Rachel Weber spent a week down on the Florida coast, soaking up the sun's rays while she waited for her life to begin. It was there that she met Dean Sherman, a handsome, muscular soldier with crystal blue eyes. The two spent a week together full of champagne kisses that only ended when Operation Desert Storm forced Dean to choose between his duty and his love. He chose duty.
Twenty years later, Rachel figured it was just summer love, but she never forgot those eyes. As personal assistant to powerful billionaire Jack Saunders, she never expected Dean to walk into her office after being hired as Jack's personal bodyguard. Even though she had spent the last two decades trying to forget Dean, she found herself falling for him once again.
When fate forced both Rachel and Dean to choose yet again between love and duty, Rachel had to decide between the man she had always loved and the family that had become her life. She knew she couldn't have both, but she knew she wouldn't be happy with just one. Would she choose love, or be forever haunted by the memory of those Champagne Kisses?
This thrilling romance novel brings the cast of the bestselling novels Saltwater Kisses and Rainwater Kisses back for an epic and timeless love story.