Emma stared at her piles of makeup. Max was probably going to throw them back in the water, since the Bears kept winning those challenges, so she’d be smart to replicate her style from the day before. The carefully applied waterproof cosmetics he’d mistaken for natural.

She rolled her eyes. Men had no idea how much time and money went into the natural look.

This morning, she was tempted to show him her actual face and see his reaction. See if he would gaze at her the way he had last night once he saw her freckles and pale eyelashes and oily T-zone.

No. That was ridiculous. Max was just another guy. No reason to get worked up about him, especially when she was leaving soon. She’d almost forgotten that last night, when she allowed herself to fall apart around him, when his expression was hot and intense and adoring, all at once.

She’d barely remembered in time to rush him out the door—even when that quiet voice inside her, the one that insisted Max felt different, began to speak a little louder.

In the end, Emma settled for a powder foundation, a sweep of shimming gold eye shadow, waterproof volumizing mascara, some bronzer, and her favorite peach-toned lip gloss. It was a light day.

When she stepped out of her cabin, the teams were already milling outside the lodge. She ducked into the Grub Shack to grab a quick bagel with cream cheese, then joined the Wolves. “What is it today?” she asked Holly. “Powerlifting? Shot put? Running with heavy weights attached to our ankles?”

“My brother isn’t subtle, is he?”

Emma flashed to thoughts of Max’s talented fingers finding her most sensitive spots. He had some gift for subtlety, though not one she wanted to share with his sister.

“How little faith you have in me,” Max said as he passed them on the way to his group. He didn’t glance in Emma’s direction.

He continued not to look at her as he announced the morning challenge. They were working on the Wilderness badge. He also didn’t look at her when they went hiking, or when she immediately identified the poison oak—after last year, she’d become something of an expert—or when she headed the exact wrong direction despite holding the compass. And when the teams improbably tied when they both managed to identify all the local trees, he still didn’t glance her way—and he didn’t have a plan for a tiebreaker.

The tie meant everyone earned the prize of an hour-long golf lesson, but neither team took the overall lead.

Her fear that Max would spend the day casting adoring looks in her direction was starting to feel a little silly. Maybe he was a hit-’em-and-quit-’em kind of guy who got really schmoopy right before he blew his wad. He wouldn’t be the first one.

It didn’t matter, she reminded herself. If he wanted to keep things casual, that made life simpler.

The next challenge wouldn’t begin until five o’clock, so Emma had the entire afternoon to kill and no interest in a golf lesson. She thought of her phone, which was resting on the nightstand while it collected dozens of texts and emails. Every bit of work she handled now was one task she wouldn’t need to do later.

It could wait. She was too wound up to focus.

Which left her with all of Camp Firefly Falls to explore. Emma didn’t need to debate her options. There was one thing she’d wanted to do since the year before. She raced for the giant trampoline.

Hey, camp was about reclaiming her youth, right?

No one else was using it, so she climbed to the middle and began jumping. Slowly at first, then higher and higher, until her control felt a little shaky. Still, she didn’t stop.

She landed again, and the tension was different, the mat tighter. It was what happened when a second person was on the trampoline.

“It works better if you jump,” she said, continuing to hop lightly, just enough to make sure Max stood on an unstable surface.

“You don’t want to be on this.”

She bounced a little harder and had the satisfaction of watching him stumble to keep his footing. “I don’t?”

“I worked security at this camp, and I know every hookup spot in a two-mile radius. I thought you’d want to know that there are years of sin on this trampoline.”

“Years of…you mean…”

“That’s exactly what I mean. Unless you need a demonstration.”

Emma tensed her muscles and made one final, glorious jump that knocked Max firmly on his ass. Smiling, she strode past him and climbed through the safety netting.

She was halfway to the lake before he caught up with her, grabbing her arm to slow her down. A few people glanced their way with raised eyebrows, and Max steered her in the other direction.

“What is your problem?” he demanded.

“Other than being manhandled around camp?”

“I was trying to be helpful.”

“So you warn all the girls about the trampoline splooge?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “No. But most girls weren’t swapping bodily fluids with me the night before.” His lips quirked. He apparently found her glare funny. “Trust me though. You never want to take a black light to that thing.”

Emma fought a smile of her own, but the thought of bouncy trampoline sex was too good a visual to keep a straight face. “Fine. Warning appreciated.”

His gaze locked on her, his eyes somehow even bluer than usual. “Is this how you do it then? Kick a guy out before the bed is cold, then act like…”

“Like what?”

He refused to finish the sentence, which gave her a pretty good idea of what he wasn’t saying.

“I’m not really into the post-game cuddles.” Emma shrugged. “I didn’t think that’s what you were there for either.”

“I wasn’t expecting wild declarations of love, no.”

“Then we’re on the same page.”

“Good.”

“Good,” she repeated.

Neither of them moved.

One thing was for sure, he wasn’t looking at her with awestruck adoration anymore. It almost rankled.

“I’m going for a hike.” His words came out rushed. “Come with me.”

She wasn’t prepared for the way her heart jumped at the request. “We already hiked today.”

“Naw, you went on a casual stroll. You need to get off the path to see the best of camp.”

“Why do you want to go with me?”

Max glanced up at the cloudless blue sky, as if answers might wait there. “Because I’m a masochist? I don’t know.”

Well, that made them even. She didn’t know why she wanted to go with him either.

“Lead the way.”