Christmas In High Heels by Gemma Halliday Page B

that way,” he said, drawing me in for a warm, wet kiss.
    He was right. I did kinda.
    Especially when his hands slipped inside my shirt and began fumbling with the clasp on my bra. Despite the fact he’d given me such lame present, I was just about to help him out when the doorbell rang.
    Ramirez groaned again.
    And I thought a really dirty word.
    “If that’s my mother…” I trailed off, leaving the threat hanging as I stalked to the door.
    Only, I threw it open to find Dana, standing there. Or, more accurately, teetering there, in a pair of six inch heels that looked like they were bordering on stilts.
    “Merry Christmas, Maddie!” She said, throwing both arms around me in a big hug. That turned into a stumble as she tripped on one heel.
    “What are you wearing?” I asked.
    “What?”
    She looked down. The heels were red with little green holly leaves all over them. Which matched her green mini-skirt with little red holly leaves. Which matched her red leather bustier and green earrings shaped like, you guessed it, holly leaves.
    “I’m in the holiday spirit,” Dana responded.
    I took a step back. “It smells like you’ve been drinking some holiday spirits.”
    She giggled, stepping into the living room and giving Ramirez a wave.
    “You bet I have! Ricky and I just came from his after party.” Dana gestured behind her to a gorgeous guy in a velvet Santa hat at the wheel of a convertible parked at the curb. Ricky was Dana’s boyfriend, who currently made his living as an actor on a highly rated primetime soap. I waved. He waved back.
    “What after party?” I asked.
    “A Christmas Carol. Down at the Civic Center. Ricky played Bob Cratchet. He was so sexy.”
    A sexy Bob Cratchet. Only in Hollywood.
    “Anyway,” she went on, “we’re on our way to the big Sunset Studios bash. You guys want to come?”
    I looked behind me to Ramirez. He’d shoved the gifts aside and was searching the sofa cushions for the TV remote.
    “Actually… well, we were going to spend a quiet, romantic evening at home.”
    “Oh, come on,” Dana said, flipping her strawberry blonde hair over one shoulder. “You can do that anytime. It’s Christmas Eve, Maddie. There are rockin’ parties happening all over Hollywood. You can not spend the evening at home.”
    “But it’s our first Christmas Eve together.”
    “Oh, ours too!” Dana said, clapping her hands with glee. “All the more reason to come out party hopping with us. I swear you’ll have a blast.”
    I glanced over my shoulder. Ramirez had flipped the TV on to some football game. If I didn’t act now, I was afraid I’d lose him altogether to the pigskin gods.
    “Thanks, but I think we’re going to decline this time. You two go have fun, though. And tell Ricky ‘happy first Christmas together,’ from me.”
    Dana did a little pout. But, considering she had about a bazillion more bowls of eggnog punch to sample, she finally gave in. “Okay, fine. Well, enjoy your quiet evening at home. But don’t come running to me in the morning if you get coal in your party pooping stockings,” she called over her shoulder as she skipped out the door to join Ricky in his convertible.
    I waved as they pulled away from the curb, then shut the door behind her.
    “I thought she’d never give up,” Ramirez mumbled from the sofa.
    “You and me both.”
    I crossed the room, snuggling up next to him.
    “Mmmm,” he growled in approval, one hand curling around my shoulders. “Where were we?”
    I lowered my mouth slowly over his, sampling his lower lip. “Right about there.”
    “You know,” he mumbled. “I didn’t open your gift yet.”
    I froze. “Oh, well, it can wait. I mean, it’s not even really technically Christmas yet.”
    He shook his head. “No fair. You opened one. I get one, too.”
    “No, really, it can wait. I mean, it’s nothing really, it’s just…”
    I trailed off as Ramirez grabbed the package, ripped off the green foil wrapping, and pulled a