Completed • First Draft - not edited. || "You gonna sit there all night?" Luka glances at me, smirking. I glare back. "I was enjoying the last few seconds of peace before having to spend an evening pretending to like you." "That's funny," he says, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Why?" I snap. "Because I was thinking the same thing." || The rules? Easy enough. 1. Pretend to be the perfect couple. 2. Keep it professional. 3. And whatever you do, don't. catch. feelings. Simple, right? Sofia Calloway never planned on going viral for throwing a drink in Luka Mikhaylov's face. But one video, one pissed-off hockey star, and one furious university later... she's suddenly stuck in a fake relationship with the guy she can't stand. He needs to clean up his image before the NHL draft. She needs the free tuition that comes with the deal. All they have to do is smile for the cameras, hold hands at the games, and act like they don't want to strangle each other. Then come the late-night arguments that last too long. The stolen glances that feel too dangerous. The moment where "pretend" starts looking way too real. Because when you break the rules, someone's bound to lose. And this time, it might be both of them.

Caden Connelly is hot. Dumb. And possibly cursed. Every girl he dates ends up falling for someone else-usually one of his teammates-and he's sick of being the universe's personal punchline. So this semester, he's got a new plan: fake date someone completely undateable. Someone so immune to hockey charm, the curse won't stand a chance. Enter Raven Alore. She's too smart to fall for a himbo goalie and way too busy trying to win a cutthroat sports media internship, take revenge on her ex, and survive living with her backstabbing roommate. She has exactly zero time for Caden's golden retriever energy or his abs of distraction. But when fake dating him gets her: a viral PR case study a shot at the internship and her ex shaking in his cleats... Well, she's in. With conditions. No feelings. No flirting. No shirtless selfies. (Okay, maybe one shirtless selfie.) But the longer they fake it, the messier it gets-because Caden's actually... not that dumb? And Raven's not that heartless. And this whole thing? Might not be fake at all. By the time the puck drops, someone's gonna catch feelings. Let's just hope it's not cursed.

⸻ She was born a weapon. Alina Reyes is a mafia princess raised in blood and silence-beautiful, volatile, and deadly when crossed. After witnessing her mother's murder at eight years old, she learned one rule early: never let anyone mistake your softness for weakness. When a forced marriage binds her to Ronan Kavanagh, one of the most feared mafia Dons in Europe, Alina expects a cage. She gets a battlefield. Ronan is cold, ruthless, and untouchable-a man who rules through fear and never explains himself. Their marriage is meant to be an alliance, nothing more. No trust. No affection. No illusions. But Alina is not the kind of woman who survives quietly. As enemies circle and old ghosts rise from the ashes of betrayal, Alina refuses to stay protected, hidden, or obedient. She doesn't want Ronan's permission-she wants her place beside him. And as secrets unravel and the past claws its way back into the present, their union becomes something far more dangerous than either anticipated. Because together, they don't just rule. They destabilize. ⸻