2000 Kisses Read Online Free Page A

air, laughing. “Okay, I wish for adventure. I wish for a baby-blue Mercedes. I wish for—for red cowboy boots and a man who makes me see my life in a whole new light.”
    “Good, good. Put your whole heart into the wish.”
    “I want to ride a horse beneath the stars and tell stories all night before a roaring fire. I want to fall in love,
really
fall in love—so deeply that there are no questions and no limits.”
    “Excellent.”
    Tess's heart pounded as she was swept up in a dozen rich fantasies. Already waiters were bringing in trays of chocolate desserts and the chef himself ushered in the gleaming millennium cake on a wheeled cart. “But how will I know him? How will he—”
    Sirens blared. More fireworks thundered over the last strains of “Auld Lang Syne.”
    Would her millennium wishes come true?
    Was she ready for such a change if it came?
    Tess pressed a kiss on Damien's cheek, dreaming about hot colors and wild adventures as lights explodedover the harbor. Amid screams and laughter and tears, clock hands slid forward, marking the progression into a grand new era.
    And for a few minutes, caught in the cheers and the noisy laughter, Tess found herself believing that her wishes would all come true.
     

SUNDAY
JANUARY 1, 2000

    T ess awoke with a start.
    Drums boomed. Echoes danced inside her head.
    She opened one eye and winced. Bad idea. Movement plus hangover equals pain.
Major pain.
    It had been almost four o'clock when a taxi deposited Tess back at her apartment. The onboard cruise festivities had continued for hours, with flowing champagne and noisy dancing.
    Before her departure, Tess had received two proposals of marriage, an offer to spend a week on a shipping magnate's private island in the Caribbean, and another invitation to experience carnal delight in the stateroom of a drunken millionaire.
    But she hadn't met Mr. Right.
    She might have dreamed about him though. She remembered a wild mixture of colors and heat, with cities of stone rising hot beneath turquoise skies.
    Groaning, she pulled a pillow over her head, tot the drumming grew louder. Tess tugged away the pillow and stared at the room, trying to place die sound. Several lifetimes later she realized the thunder was coming fromher foyer, most likely from her front door. And it was definitely getting louder.
    Outside, snowflakes were drifting down in the darkness. The clock beside her bed said 10:20 AM.
    “Okay, okay,” Tess croaked to the person pounding at her door. She sat up slowly and pulled on a long cotton robe, then padded to the door and stared through the peephole. “Agatha?” She unlocked the door, frowning. Agatha Spinelli, her fragile eighty-two-year-old neighbor, was leaning on a walker in the hall. “Is something wrong? You're not sick, are you?”
    “I'm fine, my dear, just fine. I was worried about you when the power went out briefly. You must have been asleep.”
    Deeply asleep.
    Blissfully asleep.
    Dreaming of turquoise skies and hot wind, Tess thought. Thinking about a closet full of cashmere sweaters and a sleek blue Mercedes that could cruise to sixty in seven seconds flat. “No problem. Why don't you come in for a cup of tea?” Tess prayed she had some left.
    “No, I really shouldn't stay. I'm expecting a call from my son. The cable's broken again, I'm afraid.”
    Not broken, Tess knew. Agatha had had to pull the plug on her favorite channels when the rates had increased. Tess had already sent a check to the cable company, arranging to have the service restored anonymously. She knew how much Agatha loved her nature shows.
    She watched the white-haired woman wince as she gripped her walker. “Are you sure you won't come in?”
    “No, I've got water boiling on the stove. I just wanted to check on you.”
    “You ankle's bothering you again.” Tess saw thelines of strain at her eyes. “When are you going to have that tendon operation?”
    “My son's working on it. He's been saving for quite a while