Quotes from Gemma Halliday

So, really, this was all Ramirez's fault. (What can I say? Twelve years of Catholic school had taught me how to reassign guilt with the best of them.)

it made my little heart go pitter patter that he was racing across an ocean to be by my side. That is until he added, "Don't do anything stupid until I get there.

curiously, we set out. By this point, Diego

Okay, so maybe he didn't sign it with a heart or an XOXO, but the man was going for coffee. Gotta love that.

There was a little note on the nightstand written on the back of a KFC napkin: Went for coffee, be right back. R Okay, so maybe he didn't sign it with a heart or an XOXO, but the man was going for coffee. Gotta love that.

Great. Dead bodies, road kill and Toys R Us. Could this day get any better?

Ramirez and I wanted to spend our first Christmas Eve together with just a nice, romantic, quiet evening at home." "I never promised to be quiet,

Men. They were nothing but trouble anyway. I mean, really, look where the men in my life had gotten me. Handcuffed, fingerprinted, jailed…then handcuffed again! That's it, I washed my hands of the whole lot of them. In fact, I was actually looking forward to flying home, sitting in my cozy studio and spending the evening alone with Joanie, Chachi, and the Keebler elves. Now those were my kind of men.

Instead, I pulled out my cell and dialed the one person any independent, competent adult calls when a true crisis hits. Mommy.

Oh, boy. Why did I have a feeling I'd just aligned myself with Tweedle Diva and Tweedle Devious?

At least he didn't have a gun." You know your day sucks when the high point is you haven't had a gun pointed at you.

I raised one eyebrow in his direction, wondering if that last line had been in their sponsorship contract. In case of unexpected murder, please plug the Tropical Tryst Buffet and the Hula Hibiscus Day Spa.

But as I stared up into his eyes, I could see something else there, too. Something that promised years of laughter. Of friendship and respect, of being challenged at every turn and growing into a better person for it. Of hot stolen moments in the dark, and long, lazy mornings in bed. Of always knowing someone's got your back no matter what kind of trouble finds you.

Well, I guess that tells you not to call me in a crisis.

head lulled to one side, a trickle of blood dripped down the front of her dress, and her eyes stared at the ceiling, wide and unseeing. And totally dead.