They spoke little as they walked, mainly because Emma was working hard to keep up with Max—and working even harder not to show it. He stayed ahead of her on the narrow trail, guiding them up the mountain and making sure to point out any exposed roots or winding plants she could get caught in. It was clear he knew this trail well.

Once, he drew to a stop with his finger to his lips, then nodded toward their left. A group of deer stood about a hundred feet from their location. There were three of them, one with antlers and another still wobbling on its young legs. A family.

They watched in silence until the wind shifted. The deer caught their scent and ran off, loping gracefully into the trees. Max and Emma continued up the trail.

For the most part, she spent the hour and a half it took to get to the top studying Max’s ass. It was right there, after all, and she wasn’t doing anything better. It was a good ass too. It would look even better with red half-moon marks when she dug her fingernails into the flesh.

Emma scrubbed her face, as if that might wipe the thought from her mind. There was an entire part of her brain that was obsessed with seeing Max naked, and that part had stopped communicating with her more reasonable side.

Time to get herself under control. Emma conjured a mental image of a cardboard box and pictured herself filling it with her desire for this inappropriate man. It required a surprisingly big box. She closed the lid. When she tried to push it from her, the lid popped open. Gritting her teeth, she wrapped packing tape around the entire thing.

Max wasn’t the first guy to inspire lust, but this was the first time she’d struggled to ignore it. In the past, it had been no more potent than a desire for chocolate—a craving that was either easily satisfied or forgotten with time.

Whatever he was looking at last night, he wasn’t seeing you, she reminded herself. Max saw the piles of makeup and thought it was ridiculous to have so much. Not once had he asked about her skills or her career, the things that mattered most in her world. Every sign pointed to a fling—which meant, somehow, that box had to stay closed. In two days she’d be back in L.A. and moving forward with her life.

At last, the trees opened up. They stood at the top of a small mountain. Emma spun, taking in the three-sixty view. Far below, Camp Firefly Falls continued to bustle. There were kayaks and swimmers in the lake, and people were zooming down the zip lines. But the near-constant chatter of camp was absent. It was just the breeze and the birds, the leaves rustling and Max’s shoes crunching on the ground as he turned to face her.

“It’s gorgeous,” Emma said.

“Nothing like this in L.A., huh?”

Emma felt the impulse to defend her city, as she always did when people expressed an instinctive dislike of her home. “Have you ever been to Los Angeles?”

“I’ve seen enough of it in films. The sprawl, the traffic. Doesn’t seem like a place I need to visit.”

“And I’ve seen Dirty Dancing. Does that mean I didn’t need to come to Camp Firefly Falls?”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“Dirty Dancing looks like fun. Traffic never looks like fun.”

She moved to sit on a fallen log facing away from camp and toward an uninhabited valley. “It’s always a give-and-take, isn’t it? I get traffic and crowds, but I have access to every world cuisine you can imagine. One block from my apartment, there’s an El Salvadorian restaurant next to an Irish pub next to the best sushi bar in three counties. You can’t say that about Briarsted.”

“I suppose not.”

“I can also go hiking in Griffith Park and have a bonfire on the beach on the same day.”

The log lifted slightly as Max sat on the other end. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “We have campfires here.”

“It’s not the same. It’s not about the fire.” She closed her eyes to recall the feeling. “It’s sitting on the edge of the world. You look out at the Pacific, and it’s nothing but this expanse of water. You know if you followed it, you’d reach other countries, other people, but it doesn’t seem like that when you stand on the shore and watch the waves crash.”

She felt him turn to study her. “That’s a good thing, being on the edge of the world?”

Emma struggled to explain the sensation that had saved her so many times. “I grew up just a few blocks from the ocean. My step-dad was a pretty successful TV producer. He worked on some crappy sitcoms that never seemed to get canceled. They paid for a big house in Malibu.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Nice,” she repeated. The house had been lovely, filled with tasteful neutrals balanced with pops of nautical blue, all chosen by an interior designer. There was an infinity pool in the backyard, and a large garage for her stepfather’s collection of Italian cars. “It was a house. That’s all.”

“Seriously? Even a house in Malibu doesn’t impress you? It’s a wonder you tolerate your cabin down there.”

“Why do you still think the worst of me? I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

Max gripped his elbows with opposite hands. “Nothing. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

It was the second time he’d apologized for being an ass, and still no explanation for why. “That’s not an answer.”

He waited so long to reply she thought he wasn’t going to. “It’s easier. If I don’t like you, then it’s no big deal to walk away at the end of this. No harm, no foul.”

“You don’t like me?” She hated the hurt in her voice.

“I’m starting to like you too much. That’s the problem.”

The words hit her in the chest. She should inch away from him, maybe even head back down the mountain. This was how it began. One night, followed by declarations they couldn’t really mean.

Instead, she moved closer, until their outer thighs brushed. “We live on separate coasts. We know the reality. This is all it’s going to be. Let’s just enjoy it for what it is.”

“You and I know it doesn’t always work that way.”

“You’re talking about Ruby and Josh and their big forever love? You can’t be comparing us to them.”

“I guess not.” A pause, as if to create space for the friends who weren’t there. “Do you miss her, now that they’re always on the road?”

“Of course. But I got offered a deal two weeks after I returned from camp last year. My life has been nonstop ever since. I wouldn’t have been able to see her much, even if she was still in L.A. Plus, she’s so freaking happy now. It’s all I ever wanted for her.”

“Same. For Josh, I mean. But…” He scuffed his hiking boot against a small rock.

“But you miss him,” she finished. “That’s normal.”

“No, it’s not.” He picked up the rock and chucked it down the mountain. “The way you feel, that’s normal. Happy for your friend, but getting on with your life. Everything has felt off since he left.”

“Tell me.” When he didn’t respond, Emma reached for his hand and threaded her fingers through his. It was an impulse, a sense that he needed to connect through touch. “I want to know.”

“You’ve driven through Briarsted, right? Small town. Everyone knows everyone kind of place. I’ve got lots of friends down there, but Josh has been my best friend since we were kids. He’s the only one who knows everything about me. Not even Holly knows what we got up to in high school, thank God. I never thought about what it would be like when he left because I thought we’d both stay in the area. I’m glad he’s happy, but…”

There it was again. The but. “But his happiness means your life has been harder.”

“Yeah.” He threw another rock with his free hand. “Him being with Ruby, now being married, it puts this barrier between us. His life is moving forward, and I’m standing still. That makes me an asshole, doesn’t it?”

She squeezed his hand. “It doesn’t make you an asshole. It makes you lonely.”

Max looked at their clasped hands. “That’s a hell of a word, isn’t it? Like I can’t find people who want to be with me, or I keep myself isolated, and none of that’s true. It just doesn’t fix anything.”

“I understand.”

“Really? From what I’ve seen, you’re one of the least lonely people I know. People flock to you.”

“You mean men flock to me.”

“Yes. No. Okay, men always seem to be near you. Like, always.”

She shouldn’t feel pleased with how annoyed he sounded.

“But the other Wolves liked you immediately. You’ve never been a Scout in your life, and it took you a day to convince them you belonged.”

“You think that’s the cure for loneliness? Being surrounded by people?”

Max’s mouth twisted. “Fair point.”

“Besides, I wasn’t talking about now. I’ve been too busy to be lonely. I’m too busy to even miss Ruby much. Don’t tell her that.”

“If you don’t tell Josh that I miss him. He’ll decide it was all his fault and feel guilty for years.”

“That sounds like him.”

They sat in companionable silence. Max’s thumb brushed hers, an easy movement.

“If you’re not lonely now, when were you?”

Emma held back a wince. She hadn’t meant to give that away and had rather hoped he wouldn’t notice. She should have known better.

If she told him, it would change things. She would no longer be able to say he didn’t know her. It was her last barrier between them.

“Let’s just say my fancy Malibu house wasn’t much of a home,” Emma said, allowing the barrier to disintegrate.

He waited.

“My stepfather wasn’t around. Always working, or so he said. A lot of his work seemed to involve parties and screenings and auditioning younger actresses. I don’t remember him ever showing interest in being a father.”

“Why didn’t your mom divorce him?”

She gave a bitter laugh. “Why would she? It was everything she wanted. A big house. Lots of money. A standing reservation at the Ivy.”

“Is she really that shallow?”

“She is, but she’s also a woman whose first husband emptied the bank account when he decided to shack up with some eighteen-year-old in another state.”

“That was your bio dad?”

“The sperm donor, yeah.”

He shook his head. “Sounds like your childhood was a textbook case for daddy issues.”

“You’d think. But I could never get too worked up about guys who didn’t love me. Why give them more power?”

“Were you really that together as a kid?”

“God no. Just had too many mommy issues to also worry about a couple of pricks who never had time for me.”

She hadn’t told this story in a long time. It felt disloyal to her mother who, for all her faults, had always cared about Emma.

“I was five when he left. Her modeling career wasn’t bringing in money like it used to. When she got married, she focused on being a wife to the husband she loved. That’s how she tells it, at least. She gave up everything for him, and he took it and ran. It’s probably not that simple, but it’s close enough to the truth. She was getting older, and modeling jobs were harder to come by. When he left her for someone who couldn’t even legally drink, Mom thought he was trading her in for a younger, prettier model. I don’t think she ever forgot that.”

“What did she do?”

“She became ruthlessly pragmatic. My mother decided to find another husband before her looks vanished completely. Her words. I’ve seen pictures from that time. She was stunning. So she attended every party, every industry event. She was still invited to a lot of them. It didn’t take her long to find my new daddy.” Emma rolled her eyes. “She never loved him, but he was infatuated back then, and she took full advantage. He was at a chapel in Vegas before anyone said the world prenup. I can’t blame her. She did what she thought she needed to do to survive.”

“If you don’t blame her, what about those mommy issues?”

“My mom…” She hesitated. This was the part of the story that made people pity her, if they weren’t making all kinds of assumptions about her life choices.

But somehow, she couldn’t stop talking.

“Beauty was everything to her. It was why she lost her first husband, and how she got the next one and never needed to worry about money again. It was a lesson she wanted me to learn. Most women don’t grow up with a mom who reminds them every day to moisturize. I had my first jar of La Mer at thirteen. That’s like the Maserati of face creams,” she explained when he looked blank. “She told me to stay fit. Don’t leave the house without lipstick. Don’t date the son of a talk show host when I could have the son of an A-list actor. When I was sixteen, she asked if I wanted breast implants for my birthday.”

That seemed to offend him more than anything. “That’s insane. You don’t need plastic surgery.”

Emma tapped her perfect nose, the one that had replaced the original she inherited from her mom’s first husband. “Not anymore.”

Max looked startled, but she saw no sign of judgment. He ran his index finger along the straight line of the bridge like he was trying to find the seams.

“It was a long time ago. This is my face now. And I chose this. She didn’t pressure me into it.” Whether she would have made the same choice with a different mother, Emma would never know.

“It’s a lovely face,” Max said. “You know that, though.”

“Of course. We paid enough for it.”

“Why would she do that?”

Emma gazed over the valley, but in her mind it became the ocean, the one she would visit whenever she needed to see the end of the world. “Because she believed beauty was the greatest weapon a woman could possess. It made men stupid, and a stupid man could be led to do all sorts of things. Some moms prepare their daughters for the world with a college degree. Mine went with rhinoplasty.”

“And when things got bad, you walked to the end of the world.”

“Exactly. I saw this big expanse of blue. When I stood there, all the pressure was behind me, and nothing but possibility ahead. If I stepped in and kept swimming, I could escape.” Emma shrugged. “It’s nonsense, of course. I knew I’d drown long before I made it to Hawaii. But it was nice to think about.”

As she’d told the story, he’d drawn their joined hands onto his lap. He lifted them and kissed the back of her hand, then pressed it tight against his chest. It was a soft, protective gesture, and it made something crack inside her. She forced a smile.

“So that’s my tragic backstory. Classic poor little rich girl.”

He didn’t smile with her. “It’s not a story I’ve heard before.” Something beeped in his pocket. Max cursed and withdrew his phone. “I set the timer for when we need to head back.”

Emma had completely forgotten about camp and the competition. It felt like they’d stepped into a different world, and she was reluctant to leave it.

Max rose, pulling her with him. He didn’t let go of her hand. “Let’s go see what Holly has planned for us.”