***
Downstairs.
Luella checked her surroundings like a thief in the night, making absolutely sure no one was watching before she practically dove into Jimmie's car.
"Juniper kept staring at me during dinner! It scared me to death," she started complaining the second she was in the passenger seat. "And you! You were way too careless. We almost blew our cover."
Jimmie pressed his lips together, a flash of displeasure crossing his features. "We're two single adults," he murmured, his voice slightly raspy. "Dating is completely normal."
Anyone listening would think they were having some sort of illicit affair.
"I know that," Luella muttered. "I'll find a good time to tell her."
If they kept sneaking around like this, she was going to have a heart attack.
"Good." Jimmie's lips curved upward, his mood instantly improving. "Thank you for officially giving me a title, Ms. Langley."
"What title?" Luella felt her cheeks heat up. "I'm only telling Juniper and that old fox. We're keeping it a secret from everyone else for now."
She was at a critical juncture in her plans, and the fewer people who knew her true gender, the better.
She was only telling Juniper because the girl was simply too smart. If Luella paraded around in front of her a few more times, the secret would be out anyway.
A short while later.
The car pulled into the garage. Jimmie held Luella's hand as they walked toward his front door.
"My legs are sore. Give me a piggyback ride!" Luella poked his arm playfully.
"Sore?"
Jimmie paused for a moment before catching her meaning. Without hesitation, he scooped her right up into his arms. "A princess deserves to be carried like one."
"Did you learn that cheesy line from the old fox too?" Luella wrapped her arms around his neck, groaning. "Shanley is always saying those disgustingly sweet things. Stop copying him."
"Understood." Jimmie's lips curled into a smirk. He leaned in, his voice dropping to a low, husky register. "I'm feeling a little weak. I need a kiss to keep going."
Luella glared at him indignantly, but she stretched her neck forward anyway and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth.
Jimmie raised an eyebrow, thoroughly satisfied.
The two happily continued toward the door, completely oblivious to the beat-up e-scooter parked right across from them.
As they got closer, Luella squinted. "That scooter... looks a lot like Juniper's piece of junk."
Jimmie stopped in his tracks, his voice tight. "Don't the people sitting on it look a lot like her too?"
They both nodded simultaneously.
"Juniper, I didn't mean to keep it from you. The situation just... spiraled out of control," Luella explained carefully. "It's all Jimmie's fault. He chased me all the way to Stellara Country, and then he literally asked me if I wanted to feel his abs! You know I have zero self-control..."
Jimmie: "Yes. My fault entirely."
"How far has this progressed?" Juniper asked, her eyes scanning the room. She noted Luella's suitcase tucked in the corner and a pair of women's slippers by the shoe rack.
Luella looked down, biting her lip, too terrified to speak.
"Well?" Juniper shifted her gaze to Jimmie, utterly baffled. "You guys aren't living together, are you?"
"We are." Jimmie admitted it without a second of hesitation. He looked her dead in the eye and said, "Luella and I live together. We're sleeping together."
*Crash!*
At those words, the glass of water slipped right out of Shanley's hand and shattered on the floor.
He stood frozen, his mind completely short-circuiting on the phrase 'sleeping together'.
They slept together?
Wait. He was suddenly burning with a highly inappropriate question: *Who was the top?*

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Don't Mess with the Girl with Candy