What did I agree to?

After Corey left and I arranged my polish in a pleasing rainbow order on my newly installed shelves, it hit me that I had agreed to be in a secret relationship. I agreed to lie to everyone's face while sneaking around with Corey. I agreed to lie to my brother.

Corey wasn't allowed to ask life altering questions within five minutes of kissing me. Make it an hour, just to be safe.

If Gray found out...

No. I couldn't think about that. How could he find out? He was miles away. All Corey and I had to do was keep a low profile. No one else could know because Gray knew everyone. Anyone could tell him they saw me with Corey and everything would've been over.

I didn't know what a secret boyfriend looked like. I barely knew what a regular boyfriend looked liked. Luckily, Corey and I had a few days to work it out before the holiday.

So far, having a secret boyfriend looked a lot like baking cookies. I'd promised Liselle that'd I'd come over to update her website and taste test her cookies the day of the art show.

Only a tiny part of me hoped Corey would be there. It had been almost twenty-four hours since I saw him last. But he was away on a job with his dad and grandpa. He sent me a before photo of the backyard they were working on--over grown grass and shrubbery with a concrete walkway that looked like a tripping hazard. I was excited to see the after.

Liselle put me to work immediately. She pulled out about ten new cozy designs that I had to take photos of. Each one a different vibrant color or pattern. After an hour of taking pictures and editing them with the million photo editing apps I had installed on my phone, I couldn't ignore the smell of baked goods anymore.

Corey's mom was in the kitchen, the counters covered with mixing bowls, measuring cups, and all the raw ingredients for baking. She pulled a cookie sheet from the oven as I settled in at the kitchen table.

"You're just in time," she said, setting the tray on the burners." I need you to tell me which one is the best. I'm trying to decide between the s'mores and brownie for my next book club meeting."

Both cookies sounded amazing. My mouth watered just looking at them. Liselle used a spatula to scoop one of each onto a napkin for me. They were still really hot from the oven, but I didn't care. A scorched tongue was a small price to pay.

Before I could decide which cookie to start with, Liselle asked, "You messing around with my son?"

I died several times within the span of a second. "W-what?"

She gave me a look that I translated into, "I know you heard me. Don't play dumb".

The woman laughed, grabbing two glasses from the cabinet and filling them with milk. I used that time to figure out what to tell her. Was she on the list of people who couldn't know about me secretly dating Corey? She already knew, though. Lying to her would've been pointless. Would she mention it to Gray?

"That boy came in here yesterday all happy-go-lucky like he won the lottery."

He did? I felt myself start to grin and clamped my teeth down on my bottom lip to stop it.

"Since he's too young to gamble, I figured there must be another reason."

I glanced down at my napkin of cookies. How did I reply to that? How'd she know it was me? Has he talked to her about me?

"I wasn't trying to embarrass you. I'm just nosy. Corey tells me a lot, unless a girl is involved."

So, he doesn't talk about me. Then... "How did you know?"

"Because he's like his father. They are the worst secret keepers. Especially when they like someone."

Corey was good at keeping that secret from me because I never would've guessed it.

"When I met CJ, I knew how he felt right from the start." She got a dreamy look in her eyes, like she was remembering the moment. As a lover of love stories, I leaned in to listen. "We met in high school, too. Freshman year. He was having a party at his house. My friend dragged me to it.

"The party was whack. A bunch of nervous teenagers, too worried about looking cool to do anything. I was one of them, of course."

I smiled at that, taking a bite of the brownie cookie. It melted in my mouth.

"CJ started removing chairs, making people get up and dance. I happened to be sitting in one of those chairs. He walked up to me and told me to get up. Not asked, told. So, I sat back, crossed my arms and said 'No, I'm comfortable.'"

I snorted, almost spitting out my milk. I could easily picture her neck rolling just as hard as her eyes, leaving a trail of broken-hearted guys in her wake. Liselle laughed too. "What did he say?"

"Nothing. He didn't care what everyone else was doing anymore. He got himself a chair, sat next to me and we talked the rest of the night."

Okay, that was cute. It amazed me how some people just knew what they wanted. 

"Those Cordell men don't know how to contain themselves when they like someone," she told me, with a knowing smile. "I knew Corey liked you way back when. During that first Fourth of July we all spent together. He came asking if I bought the spicy hot links. I knew he didn't like them. After I saw you down three of them, I knew who he was asking for."

That was back in seventh grade. How didn't I know Corey had a crush on me since middle school? To think I was swooning over the guys in my romance books while Corey was in the next room playing video games with my brother.

We finished taste testing cookie. Liselle agreed that the brownie flavor would be best for her meeting. I finished editing the pictures I took and began uploading them to the online shop.

I was updating the inventory when Corey and his dad came in. Liselle had all her baking stuff cleaned up. The only evidence was sitting in my purse in a zip-lock bag.

CJ walked over to Liselle, who was rummaging through the pantry, and kissed her on the cheek. She grinned, leaning into him. It was the most adorable thing I'd ever witnessed.

My gaze flitted to Corey, who stood a table's width away, watching his parents. Even his lips couldn't help but tick up in the presence of genuine love. When his eyes met mine, his smile grew.

"I'm thinking Alfredo," Liselle announced. "Are you staying for dinner, Harlow?"

I glanced at the time on the oven. It was a little after six and Mom had wanted to go out to eat. Hudson would be there, too. She wanted to give him a crash course on the Spencer family. "I actually have to get home after I finish this."

"Next time then," she said before turning to her husband. "Go get cleaned up so we can go to the store."

CJ did as she asked without a fuss, the two of them going down the hall. Liselle threw me a wink before she disappeared around the corner.

Corey laughed, catching it as well. "You told her?" He asked, taking the chair next to me.

"No. She just knew."

"I'm not surprised."

He was sweaty, dirt smeared across his forehead and nose. Why was there something sexy about a guy coming home filthy from work? It made no sense.

"You have dirt on your face."

I saw him lean forward in my peripheral, trying to catch my eye. "Is that why you won't look at me?"

"Your parents are in the next room," I said, double checking the amount of yellow cozies before typing in the number. "It'd be inappropriate if they found us making out on their table."

Corey chuckled, then pulled his chair closer. That outdoor smell of grass and dirt hitting me. "What are you doing?"

I remained strong, even with his warm breath tickling my neck. "Updating your mom's website. She's been making a lot of sales. Most of the stock was completely sold out. People really liked the ones with the little charms hanging on them."

Why couldn't I shut up? Why did Corey have to be so close, tempting me?

"How did you learn to set up a website?"

"I used a very complicated method," I said. "I clicked everything until I found what I needed."

He laughed again and I made the mistake of looking at him. His twist hung across his forehead, nearly long enough to block his eyesight. My favorite part of his face was his lips.

"I should finish this," I said, whipping my eyes back to Liselle's laptop. "Before my mom wonders where I am."

I didn't miss that self-satisfied smirk on his face. "I'll change and walk with you."

Without Corey's presence distracting me, I flew through the updates on the website. I was shutting down the laptop when Corey came back down, clean and changed. Liselle and CJ had left for the store a few minutes ago, leaving Corey and I alone in the house.

Now, I understood what he meant when he said he didn't trust himself alone with me.

"When is your dinner?"

"My mom said I should be home by seven."

"Perfect," he said. He took my face in his hand, kissing me the same way he had the first time. It was just as mind blowing. "I wanted to show you something."

He wrapped his hand around mine, grabbed my coat and purse from the back of the chair, and led me outside.

"Where are we going?" I asked, after slipping on my coat and taking my purse.

When we left his apartment complex, we turned in the opposite direction of my house, towards the main street.

It was all lit up with stores and fast-food places. It was jarring because our street was always so quiet, aside from the occasional helicopter or dog.

We weren't the only ones walking. What if someone we knew saw us hand in hand? What if they told Gray?

Corey squeezed my hand, as if he could sense what I was thinking. "We're almost there."

We turned down a street lined with one-story houses. All of them had lawns of rocks instead of grass. Corey and I walked to the fourth house on the street, stopping at the end of the driveway.

"I didn't show you the after picture," he said.

I looked up at the house, realizing it was the same dark gray color with the red trim as the picture he sent hours ago.

He let go of my hand, pulling a set of keys from the pocket of his hoodie. "It's not done yet, but we worked on the big stuff," he explained, unlocking the front door.

We stepped into the house. It still smelled like paint, and Corey warned me that some walls were still wet.

The walls were white, with hardwood floors. There was a fireplace on the right, separating the family room from the dining room. Corey walked me through everything. Apparently, a family room and a living room were two different things. I'd never lived in a place big enough for both.

"I'm confused," I said, admiring the ceiling fan that hung in the middle of the living room. "I thought you did landscaping. As in, outside."

"My grandad expanded years ago, but he's too cheap to change the name," he told me from the kitchen before stepping through the sliding glass door to the backyard. "We do landscaping and home renovation."

I followed him out as he used the flashlight of his phone to find something. "Is this what you want to do after school?"

"Yeah," he answered easily. Then he squatted down in front of some wires. The backyard flooded with light.

It looked completely different from the picture he sent me. The overgrown bushes were gone. They replaced the crooked concrete path with tiles leading to a small platform, a tattered picnic table in the middle of it that Corey assured me wasn't staying.

We sat on the tabletop, or feet on the bench part. Shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh. It was peaceful out there. The traffic from the main street was a dull hum and we had a clear view of the sky. I could've stayed out there forever. Especially with Corey as company.

"You should've seen this place when we first started. The family that was here last was wild. There were holes in the wall all down the hallway. None of the cabinet doors were attached. One of the rooms was completely covered in dog crap."

I felt myself cringe. "That's disgusting."

"Imagine being the one to clean it."

"You must really love this line of work if you were willing to do that," I said, looking over at him. "Aren't kids supposed to rebel against following their dad's footsteps?"

He chuckled. "I think it skips a generation because that was one hundred percent my dad. He's happy I'm into it so he can retire early."

"So, no Cordell, Cordell, and Cordell landscaping truck?" Honestly, it would've been funny to see how many Cordells they could fit on that thing.

"Even if the three of us stayed on, my grandad isn't paying to change the logo."

Right. Cheap. "Which part is your favorite? Indoor or outdoor."

"Indoor," he said easily. "The results are instant. You can immediately tell if something will work the way you want it to. Outdoor, you have to wait for stuff to grow. The grass will take a month and the hedges will take years. Same with trees. But installing new cabinets or flooring? That takes a day or two. You can change your surroundings instantly."

He stared up at the house, eyes bright like he was imagining all the way he could improve the house further. He was passionate about his work and that made me like him even more.

I inched forward, connecting my lips with his. The kiss was quick.

"Was that your way of telling me to shut up?" He asked, our face still so close.

"Not all," I said, tracing a finger along his jaw. "I like that you know exactly what you want to do with your life."

"You say that like you're not on track to owning your own nail salon."

His confidence in me felt nice. "I don't know about that. It's fun doing nails, but I don't see myself doing it long term."

His head titled slightly as he thought about that. "Well, you can put your painting skills to use with us, if you want."

I smiled at that. "Would I have to change my name to Cordell?"

"Obviously."

A snort escaped me and we both cracked up.

A moment later, my phone pinged with a text. Crap. It was almost seven. "That was my mom."

Corey hopped off the table before helping me down. Instead of letting me go, he pulled me closer, kissing me in a way that made my knees weak. "Just in case this is my last chance to do that tonight."

I pulled him in for one last kiss before we left. Once we turned off all the lights and Corey locked the door, we headed back to the main street. The sound of cars got louder with each step.

We were back on the busy, bright street. That time, I didn't care that I was holding Corey's hand in public or care about who could see us. I needed enough of him to get me through the night when we were asleep in separate beds.

"Harlow?"

I dropped Corey's hand like it was on fire.