Chapter 1310

"Who's blushing?"

Luella touched her cheeks. The burning heat against her palms made her frown, but she stubbornly doubled down. "The ventilation in here is terrible. I'm just hot."

"Is that so?"

Seeing her blink frantically in obvious guilt only cemented his theory.

"Can't you feel your own heartbeat? It's racing so fast I can literally hear it from here!"

"It is not."

She pursed her lips, instinctively raising a hand to her chest to check. But before she could even get halfway there, he intercepted her wrist.

"?"

Caught off guard, she felt him give a gentle tug, and she practically slammed right into his chest.

Looking up, she was met with a pair of bloodshot, wildly intense eyes.

"Jimmie, let me go!"

She was genuinely terrified now, her voice trembling as she delivered the warning. "Or I swear I'm not going to hold back!"

"Do you really not like me?" He didn't release her. His rich, husky voice sounded like a deity of the night-captivating and dangerously alluring. "Luella, I just want an answer."

"If you truly have zero feelings for me, I'll stop bothering you starting today."

They were standing so incredibly close. He was looking down, and all she had to do was tilt her chin up slightly to brush against his face.

Her long, thick eyelashes practically fluttered against his skin, sending ripples through his heart.

His composure unraveled even further.

Hearing his ultimatum, her heart hammered erratically against her ribs, her mind short-circuiting completely.

Zero feelings?

She had a whole lot of feelings for him!

"Luella, I'm waiting for your answer." Noting her reaction, he leaned in another fraction of an inch, his warm breath fanning across her face as he pushed for a response. "Do you like me? Hmm?"

Her breath hitched. The rejection was on the tip of her tongue, but she simply couldn't force the words out.

After several seconds of heavy silence.

She gritted her teeth, gathered every ounce of courage she had, and lifted her chin. "I don't—"

Before she could finish the sentence.

He suddenly dipped his head, crashing his cool lips directly onto her warm ones.

Her eyes blew wide open in shock, her struggles instantly freezing as she stared at him in utter disbelief. "What are you doing?"

He pulled back slightly, his own breathing an absolute wreck.

He stared at her in sheer frustration, laced with a twinge of guilt. "I'm sorry. I lost control."

He just couldn't bear to hear her say she didn't like him.

While the two of them were frozen in a state of mutual shock, Juniper suddenly appeared at the doorway, having witnessed the entire spectacle.

She was even more shocked!

She stood frozen in front of the bathroom door, her clear eyes darting wildly between the two of them as her mouth opened and closed.

"Jimmie, Luella... were you two just kissing?"

"Juniper, let me explain!"

"Yes."

Luella and Jimmie answered at the exact same time.

"Shut up!" Luella glared at him fiercely, her face as red as a tomato. "I... he... we..."

"How about you two step out to talk?"

She took a step back and said

Juniper more or less got the ne

calmly. This is a bathroom. It's not exactly the best place for a conversation."

"Right."

Luella scratched her head furiously. Right before walking out, she delivered a swift kick to Jimmie's shin and waved a threatening fist You just wait!

Jimmie looked down at the spot where she had kicked him-neither too hard nor too soft-and then reached up to touch his lips. The corner of his mouth ticked upward involuntarily.

She tasted like lemons.

In the living room.

Juniper sat dead center on the sofa, while Luella and Jimmie sat side-by-side on the opposite couch.

Shanley, meanwhile, leaned against the nearby bar with a glass of red wine, watching the unfolding drama with extreme amusement.

"Who wants to go first?"

Juniper crossed her arms over her chest, glaring "fiercely" at the two of them.