꣑ৎ ۫ ׅ𓂃 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 ⟡ ──── 𑣲⋆ ❝ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒, 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑜 ❞ ᥫ᭡.ִֶָ𓂃𝓔mera 𝓖raham. A twenty-year-old sophomore at Briar University majoring in Criminal Psychology and Criminology. She had one goal, and one goal only. Graduate. Build the career she'd dreamed about since she was a little girl. Leave behind the town, the memories, and the ghosts that had followed her for far too long. No distractions. No heartbreak. Definitely no falling for her older brother's best friend. She'd spent years carefully building a life of her own. One lecture, one exam, one research proposal at a time. Independent. Ambitious. Determined. Until Dean Di Laurentis made forgetting him impossible. ᯓ★ 𝓓ean 𝓓i 𝓛aurentis. Golden Boy of Briar University's hockey team. Campus heartthrob. Professional flirt. The guy every girl wanted and every guy wanted to be. Dean lived for hockey, loud music, late nights, and making memories with his three best friends: Garrett, Logan, and Tucker. Life had always come easily to him. Until it didn't. Because sometimes the strongest people break the hardest. What happens when the one person you've been told is off limits becomes the only person who ever feels like home? When first love collides with impossible timing...when grief changes everything...and when loving someone means deciding whether to hold on...or l

Eli has never been the type to fade into the background. She owns every stage she steps on loud when it matters, fearless under the lights, and fully aware of the way people look at her when she performs. With a band that's gaining traction and a friend group that feels like chaos and home all at once, Eli is exactly where she's supposed to be. At least, that's what she tells herself. Because lately, something about the music feels... off. The shows are bigger, the crowds louder, but somewhere in between the rehearsals and the late nights, the spark that used to drive her doesn't hit the same. She still performs like she means it she just doesn't always feel it. Then there's Dean Di Laurentis. Confident, infuriating, and impossible to ignore, he wasn't part of the plan. But the more he pushes, teases, and refuses to be just another face in the crowd, the harder it is to brush him off. Around him, things feel sharper. Louder. Real in a way the music hasn't in a while. And that's the problem. Because Eli doesn't need a guy to make her feel something especially not one who comes with complications written all over him. She doesn't chase, she doesn't fall, and she definitely doesn't risk everything she's built for a maybe. But between the music that's starting to mean something again and the tension she can't seem to shake, Eli is forced to question what's actually worth holding onto. [Dean Di Laurentis x Female OC]

Valerie Rodriguez is the quiet girl no one really notices-shy, awkward, and happiest staying out of the spotlight. But beneath the nerves is a girl who's loud, funny, and full of life once she feels safe enough to show it. John Logan is Briar University's star hockey player-charming, sarcastic, and effortlessly confident. He's the guy everyone knows, the one who jokes his way through life and avoids anything too serious, even when there's more going on underneath than he lets anyone see. When a humiliating first interview brings them together, neither of them expects it to turn into anything more than inconvenience and embarrassment. But between late-night calls, reluctant second chances, and a connection that keeps pulling them back together, Valerie starts to see the real John-and John starts to realize Valerie might be the only person who sees him for who he truly is. A college hockey romance about opposites, emotional walls, and the kind of love that changes everything without warning.

[MATURE] Lucas James is the most career focused man you will meet. After being a big time player in the NHL, he has turned to his second love... dinosaurs. Ever since Lucas was a boy, he dreamed of finding his own dinosaur... only now it might come true. Being appointed second in command on the biggest excavation in his career is a task he will take seriously. It means hard work, no distractions and nothing will break that until he's gotten through the rocks in his way. Not even the cute little newbie who's caught his eye. Thea Marshal is the definition of a rookie. Recently qualifying as a palaeontologist, she is nervous, excited and more than ready to start her career. Months fly by and the only experience in her name is between the four walls of a lab... until she gets picked up as the newest crew member of the biggest excavation in the last 5 years. It's time for Thea to pack up to South Africa and throw herself right into the rocks. Who knows, maybe she'll find her first dinosaur... or a rock that, when polished, might just turn into love. Spin Off to the Simple Love Trilogy. 1: Hand In Mine 2: Sure Thing 3. You And I *These are all interconnected and you don't have to read any of them first however I strongly recommend at least reading Sure Thing as it will explore the main MC's background. Characters and backgrounds have already been explored in the previous books. [This story contains graphic depictions of violence, sexuality, strong language, and/or other mature themes] All Rights Reserved To winnieiswriting@2023

Book one in the Westbridge U series Eighteen-year-old Grace Carter has spent her life hiding from the truth of her broken home, enduring the cruelty of an alcoholic father in the small town of Willow Springs, Texas. Her only escapes are the books she reads and the cheerleading routines she uses to mask the scars of her reality. All she wants is a way out, a chance to live her life on her own terms. Enter Jaxon Reed-the charismatic, cocky captain of Westbridge University's hockey team. At 18, he's already a hockey prodigy, and everyone knows it. He's got everything-looks, talent, and the confidence that comes with it. But underneath the bravado, Jaxon carries a past that haunts him, one he's not ready to confront. When they're paired together for an English project, neither Grace nor Jaxon is thrilled. Grace sees Jaxon as just another entitled athlete, while Jaxon thinks Grace is too distant to care about. But as they spend more time together, something unexpected happens. Jaxon begins to notice Grace's hidden pain, the way she flinches at loud noises and keeps people at arm's length. Grace, in turn, starts to see the cracks in Jaxon's perfect exterior-his reliance on hockey as an escape from a past that refuses to let him go. What begins as forced proximity soon becomes something neither of them saw coming-an undeniable connection that neither of them is prepared for. As their secrets unravel, they'll discover that sometimes, the most broken people are the ones who heal each other.

When Ava Laurent returns to the city to take over her late father's billion-dollar empire, she expects pressure, politics, and power struggles-not the hockey star who crashes into her life on a night out and changes everything. Lucas Hale is at the peak of his career: adored by the city, unstoppable on the ice, and determined to win a championship. The last thing he expects is to fall for the sharp-tongued, guarded woman who glides across his world like she was born on ice. Their chemistry is instant. Their timing is terrible. And their connection is impossible to ignore. As Ava fights to prove herself in the boardroom and Lucas battles through injury, rehab, and the spotlight, their secret romance becomes the city's favourite love story-whether they're ready or not. From quiet midnight rinks to championship nights and wedding vows whispered at center ice, this is a love story about two people choosing each other through pressure, chaos, and every version of forever.

Rosie Moving to New York was my fresh start, a chance to get away from my disaster of a hometown, and maybe learn how to breathe on my own. Romance? Not on the itinerary. So when I meet a charming, overly confident guy at a bar with golden-blond hair and too many dimples than should be legal, and way too much flirt - I don't expect to see him again. Then I do... on the ice, the very next night. Dylan I've met plenty of girls in bars. Most of them know who I am, Rosie didn't. And maybe that's why I couldn't stop thinking about her. She was introverted and blunt and completely unimpressed with my attempt at a pick up line, which was honestly kind of refreshing. Seeing her in the stands at my game felt like fate. Running into her again afterward? Game on. A sweet, slow-burn hockey rom-com about unlikely connections, quiet confidence, and falling for someone who sees past the spotlight.

Never in a million years did I think I would cross paths with him again. Michael Woods. The boy who broke my heart. The boy who picked hockey over me. The boy who left me behind. After giving three years of my life to him, it was all over after his college graduation. He went his way and I went mine. But I never imagined landing a job at his agency when I moved to Boston four years later, let alone as his assistant. A job that's meant for me to service him, do as he asks, and give him all smiles. So, I play the part. I play the nice, kind, sweet assistant in public and ignore him like my life depends on it in private. The thought of getting close to him again terrifies me because I know. I know that once I let him again, I'll never be able to let him out. And if I do, it'll be at the cost of my heart, and this time he'll leave it broken beyond repair. I used to think he was forever mine. But hockey changed everything. What would he do now if he had to make that choice? Me? Or hockey? Or both? . . . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of death by accident and depression

When world class tennis player Flynn Cooper's injury puts his future on the line, the last woman he expects to save his career is Sky Hart, the ex who married his rival. Working together again means facing everything they lost...and everything they still want. *** Physiotherapist Sky Hart knows better than to let the past interfere with her work-until her newest patient makes that impossible. Flynn Cooper is now one of the world's top tennis players. He's also the ex she never got over, the boy she loved, the man she lost, and the one person she never expected to see again after she shattered his heart by marrying his rival. Their reunion reignites everything: the tension, the electric chemistry, and the unthinkable hurt they buried years ago. Every session feels like a collision with a past neither of them has truly moved on from. With Flynn's comeback resting in Sky's hands, staying professional is the one rule they can't afford to break. But love doesn't follow the rules, and this time, the real match isn't on the court-it's against their own hearts.

Book six in the Westbridge U series Logan Brooks thought he had his life figured out. At 25, he's been drafted to the NHL and has everything he's ever dreamed of-fame, freedom, and a future on the ice. Until the night everything changes with a single knock on his door. Left with a four-month-old baby girl and a heartbreaking note from the mother he barely knew, Logan is thrust into a world of bottles, diapers, and sleepless nights. Hockey might've taught him how to take a hit, but nothing could've prepared him for this. Enter Rylee Carver-23, freshly out of college with a degree in early childhood education and a desperate need for a job and a fresh start. Becoming Luna's live-in nanny is the perfect solution... for both of them. She's nurturing, fierce, and completely off-limits. But as the days blur into late-night feedings and early-morning laughs, Logan finds himself falling-for the one girl he shouldn't. And Rylee sees through the tough, unserious hockey player to the scared but devoted father underneath. Love wasn't part of the plan. But sometimes, family finds you in the most unexpected ways. A tender, slow-burn romance about unexpected fatherhood, healing, and the kind of love that changes everything.