Ever so slowly, I lowered my mouth to the lime. As I did so, I felt the brush of her lips on mine. Just a touch. Just a breath, and it ignited fire in my veins. And at that moment, I forgot a lot. My heart stopped, my breathing quit, my thoughts ceased. But I knew one thing, and it was screaming in the hollows of my brain. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳. - an academic rivals to lovers romance - Emilia Laurent, top of her class. Augustus Casen, top of his class. What happens when the school sends both to a competition in California? One month. One competition. One hotel room. Two rivals. What could go wrong? - book one in the erudite trilogy - rankings: #1 in compete (sep 12 2023) #1 in competition (oct 16 2023) #1 in academicrivalstolovers (nov 28 2023) #1 in rivalstolovers (jul 27 2024)

{𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘒 𝘖𝘕𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘓𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘓𝘌𝘚𝘚 𝘛𝘙𝘐𝘓𝘖𝘎𝘠} Ria Romano knew hurt like the back of her hand. She was dealt her fair share of bad cards, more than anyone so young should have to face. A cynical girl riddled with the remnants of her past, a shattered sort of soul. She concealed like it was second nature; her instinct being to suppress. She'd offer you a cigarette with a shrug while you were crying because she never was too great with affection. She didn't smile so often but when she did and it was directed at you, you'd never feel such satisfaction. I was told Aria preferred to be alone, isolated; clouding her mind with inhales of her cigarette and drowning it in alcohol. Until she was dealt her good card, out of the pack of bad. They had a love beautiful enough to last a lifetime, the type directors desire to capture and authors aspire to write. Two souls, shattered by the cruelty of the world time and time again with flames that rekindled each others. They were each other's oxygen. They breathed life back into each other, those two insomniacs. <3