Page 487 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
Tinsely sat on the corner stool, and as I watched she threw her head back with such aggressive laughter that she nearly slid right off her stool.
Uh oh.
“Mrs. Holiday,” I said, “I’m so sorry to abandon you like this again, but duty calls. Say hi to Ben for me the next time he calls?”
“I will,” she said.
I didn’t delay. I hurried across the ballroom with Hugh hot on my heels, discarded my drink on a passing tray, and made it to Tinsely’s corner of the bar right as she threw herself back again with joyous laughter. This time, she slid right off the stool and into my arms. I placed her back onto her feet, and she swayed as she spun to face me.
“Hey, you,” she purred, reaching up and pressing a finger to my lips. She dragged it down over my chin and neck to the collar of my shirt. Her eyelids were heavy and she licked her lips as she played with my collar. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Hugh made an uneasy sound in the back of his throat. “People are watching,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
“Shut up, Hughie. Let them watch.” I caught Tinsely’s hand and put it back down at her side. “How many drinks have you had, little elf?”
She giggled, hiccupped, and giggled again. Then she held up her right hand and fanned out three fingers.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, could be worse.
She snickered and held up two more, plus one on her other hand.
Shit.
There’d be no sobering her up. We definitely had to get out of here.
I bent at the knees and slid an arm under her. “What do you say we get out of here, huh? I’ll take you home, get you tucked into bed, and get you out of those shoes.”
She looked down at her strappy high heels. “I love these shoes. Hugh,” she gushed with wide, excited eyes, “don’t you like my shoes? Tell me you like them.”
Hugh looked from me, to the shoes, and back to me.
I tipped my head at Tinsely and mouthed, say something.
“Uh, yeah, yeah, as far as shoes go, those are real nice,” he said.
I rolled my eyes.
Tinsely flicked the end of my Santa hat, and as it swayed behind my back, she watched it and batted at it like a cat.
“Do something about this,” I hissed at Hugh as more people started pointing and I guided Tinsely out of the ballroom.
Hugh, in all his infinite wisdom, snatched the hat off my head.
I glared at him.
He gave me an innocent, wide-eyed look. “You said to do something.”
“Never mind,” I muttered, knowing for a fact I had a head of hat hair on display while I half carried my drunken elf assistant out of the party. In the lobby, Tinsely gushed over the Christmas trees and made a fuss about tiny ornaments in the shape of Christmas presents. She insisted, however, that her gift-wrapping skills were so excellent that her presents looked better than the fake ones on the tree.
She hiccupped and grabbed hold of my tie. “I was going to give you a Christmas present, you know.”
Hugh opened the lobby doors, and we staggered down the steps to the valet, who hurried to fetch my car when he saw us coming. Luckily, I’d only had a drink and a half over the course of the four hours I’d already been at the gala.
“You were, huh?” I said to Tinsely.
She pulled harder on my tie, yanking me down to her. “Yep, before I screwed everything up.”
“You didn’t screw things up.”
