Eva Graham is a guarded, no-nonsense social science major who studies human behavior to understand why people leave-and how to make sure she never lets the wrong ones in. She keeps to herself, avoids drama, and especially avoids campus athletes, whom she considers walking red flags. Cole Grayson is a third-year psychology major, a cocky ice hockey star with a grin that disarms and a fanbase full of puck bunnies. While everyone sees him coasting, Cole's under constant pressure-trying to go pro, balancing school, and keeping up a charming front to hide just how much he's cracking underneath. When Cole starts slipping in class, he's assigned a tutor: Eva. Neither is thrilled. She thinks he's a loud, lazy distraction. He calls her "Teach" just to get under her skin-she responds by calling him "Skates," with just the right amount of disdain. What begins as bickering soon turns into banter... then something softer. The nicknames stick, becoming a quiet thread that ties them together as friends-and maybe more. Cole falls first. Hard. Eva, scared of being hurt and shaped by people who've left before, fights it. Still, she agrees to go to one of his games-just once. But seeing him on the ice, in his world, adored yet somehow still alone, shifts everything. Then the bet surfaces. A stupid, careless thing made before he really knew her-and it threatens to destroy everything they've built. Surrounded by puck bunnies stirring drama, teammates with their own loyalties, and a past Eva isn't ready to share, the fragile trust between them begins to crack. Between jealousy, late-night confessions, and moments where one look says everything, Eva and Cole must decide: is love worth risking it all-even if it started with a bet, a nickname, and everything going wrong?

Two college students. One assignment. And a lesson neither of them signed up for. What starts as tension slowly becomes understanding.

Cassandra Clover has always existed in the quiet spaces between introversion and extroversion-soft-spoken, thoughtful, her rare beauty inherited from dark-skinned parents who raised her to lead with kindness. She's the friend everyone wants but few truly know, someone who overthinks every word yet still gives herself away too freely. She's learned to protect her vulnerabilities, building walls just high enough to feel safe. Then she meets Cardan Wilson. There's something about him that stops her cold. His eyes that he covers with a hood, which she never should have seen-deep and swirling, as if crafted with deliberate care-seem to hold secrets she desperately wants to uncover. He hides beneath hoods and silence, his voice a low, peculiar cadence that makes her want to confess things she's never told anyone. He's magnetic in his mystery, unsettling in his distance, and she can't look away. Cassie has never felt this pull before-this need to understand someone who seems determined to remain unknown. Cardan is a puzzle she didn't ask for but can't ignore, and the more she reaches for him, the more she realizes he might be reaching back. In a story about two people who see something in each other the world has overlooked, Cassie will learn that sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is let someone in-and sometimes, it's the only way to truly live.