After a whirlwind reality show experience in a dreamy villa, Olandria and Nic find themselves holding onto something rare-an emotional connection that feels like home. What started as flirtation quickly bloomed into something deeper: slow love, mutual respect, and a sense of safety neither expected. This is a story about love taking its time. About emotional intimacy, patience, and the quiet beauty of something new-the seed that could grow into everything.

This first book begins at the beginning of Nicolas Vansteenberghe's and Olandria Carthen's Love Island USA Season 7 journey. This is a stans look into their beautiful love story and what we imagine was happening behind the scenes and internally with our favorite couple.

Nic & O had just gotten off the high that was season 7 love island USA. Everything seemed to be taking off, they had amazing friends, their careers were skyrocketing, but above all that, they had each other. A few years later, they welcome a set of twin baby girls and life seemed to hit an all time high- but every peak has a valley, and they part ways, each taking one twin. 10 years later, living on opposite ends of the world, Stevie and Shea meet at a summer camp and learn a secret that will forever change the course of their lives. They decide to brave a mission of no return: get their parents back together. This is, for any and all reasons, a #joke!! The parent trap is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I wondered what a nicolandria equivalent would look like! Obviously these characters and scenarios are all made up and are in no way true y'all so don't take everything literally!! I also am aware of recent developments as to other *ahem* characters in this story, but for my sake, the stories sake, and all of yours, lets pretend that never happened and all our characters are a tight knit group w no drama (ofc other than the one in the story). Without further ado, I hope you enjoy!! *also published on ao3*

Two years after Love Island, Nic is set to marry Cierra, the woman he left the villa with. But on the night before his wedding, it isn't Cierra he calls. It's Olandria. The woman he never got over. The one he tried to forget. What begins as a meeting for closure spirals into something far more dangerous. A confession laced in lust, regret, and everything they buried under fame, pride and friendship. In a cheap motel room, the night before vows are meant to be exchanged, two people who never stopped wanting each other are forced to face the truth: sometimes love doesn't fade...it festers. A story of forbidden lust, aching what-ifs, and the kind of tension that feels suffocating.

Nic had her backed against the wall without meaning to, every inch between them a battlefield. His hands flexed uselessly at his sides, wanting-needing-to touch, but not daring. The closeness was a slow burn, the kind that took him apart molecule by molecule. She tilted her chin up, eyes searching his, and he thought, if she leans in even a fraction, I'm gone. ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ Olandria came to Love Island for exactly what the name promised - love. The villa is sun-soaked and electric, full of new faces and endless possibility. And then there's Nic: quiet confidence, steady charm, and a gaze that feels just a little too knowing. Every challenge, laugh, and stolen glance adds another layer to the pull between them. In a place where nothing stays simple for long, Olandria must navigate the sparks, the first impressions that won't fade, and the question that drives every Islander: who is worth the risk?