Eden: Griffin has been the quiet complication in my life since high school-steady, serious, and always a little too aware of me in ways no one else noticed. There were moments back then, quick and charged, that nudged me toward him, but nothing ever happened. He left for the military before I could face how much I didn't want him to go, and when he came back, everything between us shifted. He had a future without me, and I taught myself to fit around the edges of it. I pretended it didn't hurt. Leaving felt like the only way to escape what I'd never said. Now I'm home again, and Griff is a father to a little boy who attaches himself to me instantly. Griffin looks at me like he remembers every unspoken moment we left behind-and I'm realizing time didn't erase anything; it only made it heavier. Griffin: Eden was always someone I felt before I saw-my sister's best friend, too sharp and soft in ways I shouldn't reach for. Before I enlisted, there were stretched-out seconds and weighted silences we never named, and walking away was harder than I admitted. Life happened. Responsibility. A future I didn't plan. Eden stayed like a steady pulse I tried to ignore-until she left, and I told myself that was cleaner. But she's back now, and nothing feels settled. My son gravitates to her immediately, and I understand why. When I look at her, I feel every moment we never let ourselves want. But my past isn't finished with me... and I'm not sure how many pieces of her I can afford to lose again.

𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈 𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄 is the star player on the hockey team at Westwood and loves the attention that comes with it. Growing up with five older brothers, hockey became the one thing that was his and he quickly rose to be the best. Malachi expected his second year to go smoothly until a cute girl spills all of her coffee on him and caught his attention in a way no one else had. What he didn't expect was to find out she was his best friend's little sister. 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄 is starting her first year at Westwood College with the hopes of having the best experience away from her hometown and parents. Then on her very first day, she bumps into a stranger and accidentally spills her coffee on him, not realizing she had just caught the attention of someone she'd be seeing a lot more of. It wasn't until later that she found out he was her brother's best friend and the school's golden boy.

Sasha Belrose doesn't date hockey players. Not after what happened last time. As the coach's daughter, she's grown up around the rink, watching the game she loves be played by boys she can't trust. She keeps her head down, helps coach the little league, and makes sure her rules stay unbroken. Then Beckett Reid transfers in. Six-foot-something, cocky grin, golden hair, and a habit of finding her in every room. He's reckless on the ice, infuriating off of it, and obsessed with getting past her walls. When her dad forces them to co-coach the little league team, she's trapped in shared space with the one player she swore she'd avoid. And the worst part? Beckett doesn't just get under her skin - he makes her laugh, makes her feel seen, and makes her forget every reason she told herself to stay away. But Sasha knows what happens when she lets someone in. Beckett knows he's not going to stop until she does. And with every practice, every stolen glance, and every rule she's tempted to break, the ice between them gets thinner. And thinner. And thinner...

Addison May and Jack Carter share a past that neither of them talks about anymore, the kind of past that still aches if you touch it too closely. Years ago, they were inseparable-young, in love, and full of plans they thought were unbreakable. But everything changed when Jack's mother fell ill. The grief hit him like a tidal wave, dragging him under before anyone could reach him. He turned to drinking, to shutting people out, to numbing himself in any way he could. And Addison, who loved him more than she ever admitted out loud, tried to hold on. She tried until she had nothing left to give. But the lowest point came the night she found out he'd cheated. In that instant, every version of their future shattered. She walked away without letting him explain, without letting herself look back. She swore she'd never trust him again. Never speak to him again. Never, ever let him close enough to hurt her again. Over time, her heartbreak hardened into anger, and that anger turned into something she told herself was hate-sharp, cold, and permanent. Years passed. They built separate lives, avoided the same rooms, the same conversations, the same memories. Addison convinced herself she was over it. Over him. Until now. At their best friends' wedding-surrounded by soft lights, slow music, and too many glasses of champagne-fate throws them right back into each other's orbit. One look across the room unravels her, one awkward "hi" tempts him, and one moment of shared laughter feels dangerously familiar. The night blurs, their walls loosen, and every emotion they buried rises to the surface. And when one thing leads to another... Addison is forced to face a truth she's avoided for years: The past isn't done with them. Not even close.

A BEST FRIENDS (with benefits) TO LOVERS romance! College hockey star Logan Gray and journalism major Allie Belmont have one rule: keep it casual. Which should be easy considering they're best friends who spend most nights tangled in each other's sheets, stealing each other's food, and arguing like an old married couple before hooking up again five minutes later. No feelings. No jealousy. No complications. Just sex. A lot of sex. For almost a year, their arrangement has worked perfectly. Allie knows exactly how to distract Logan during film review with one text, and Logan knows exactly how to make every other hookup in existence seem disappointing. Between hockey games, late-night Taco Bell runs, parties at the hockey house, and weekends spent practically living in each other's beds, they've mastered the art of keeping things easy. Until Allie's dream publishing placement introduces her to people outside of Logan's world, opening up a possible new relationship for her. People Logan finds painfully boring. People Allie maybe doesn't mind. Now Logan's accidentally cockblocking her every chance he gets, Allie's getting weirdly annoyed whenever girls sit in his lap, and their friends are one comment away from staging an intervention. Because casual shouldn't feel this possessive. And best friends definitely shouldn't act this much like a couple. But the line between friendship and something more is getting blurrier by the day... and neither of them realizes they're about to step straight into the gray area.

Mia never planned on falling for a hockey player. She just happened to know his jersey number first. Loud, outgoing, and a little too observant for her own good, Mia has been watching Carter from the stands long before he notices her back. When they finally meet at the rink, the chemistry is instant: easy laughs, late-night hangouts, and a spark that turns into something real faster than either of them expected. Carter is charming, funny, and skating toward a pro career sooner than anyone realizes, including Mia. He doesn't lie. He just doesn't say the one thing that matters. And Mia, knowing his reputation and afraid of asking for too much, lets herself fall anyway. Somewhere between shared fires, stolen moments, and a drunken hayride, they cross the line from casual to complicated. When the truth finally comes out, Mia has to decide if loving him was worth being the last to know, and Carter has to learn that choosing someone means trusting them with the whole story. Because falling is easy. Staying takes honesty.

He's cocky, reckless, and used to getting whatever, or whoever, he wants. She's fiercely independent, brilliant, and has zero patience for arrogant athletes. When star quarterback Nathaniel "Nate" Callahan gets injured, the last person he expects to meet is Josephine "Jo" Prescott, a nursing student who doesn't coddle him, doesn't flirt back, and definitely doesn't swoon at his charm. Thrown together by late-night shifts, stubborn personalities, and the chaos of college football life, Nate and Jo quickly discover that some rules are meant to be broken... and some hearts are impossible to guard. Hail Mary for Love is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers college romance packed with witty banter, football drama, and sparks that fly both on and off the field.

✨ A forbidden college romance that should've never happened...but did anyway. ✨ Cella Marcellus wasn't supposed to end up in his dorm. She wasn't supposed to start college at sixteen. And she definitely wasn't supposed to be Bastian Wylde's new roommate. Grumpy, private, and way too intense for his own good, Bastian wants nothing to do with anyone-especially a girl who's too young, too tempting, and way too off-limits. But from the second she walks in with her wide eyes with long natural eyelashes, he knows he's screwed. She's sunshine and softness. He's storms and smoke. She's never had a first kiss (Neither has he). He's sworn off love entirely. But when living together turns into late night-nightmares (Where he's holding her all night), tension-filled silences, and feelings neither of them can ignore...One wrong move could ruin everything. And Bastian's not sure if he's willing to play it safe anymore. She's sixteen. He's twenty. And when it comes to the heart...math was never meant to make sense.

𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐚 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬. Twenty years old. A junior in college. A girl with high expectations, high hopes and dreams to be in the music industries. She couldn't wait to go to college and get away from her small town. She's quiet but will put you in your place if you mess her or people she cares for. She spends most of her time reading, studying, and hanging out with her roomies. Doesn't really care for dating because of what happened in her past. She especially doesn't like the hockey captain, Cameron. But when her best friend and Cameron's best friend start dating, they have to get a long. Meet 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧. Twenty one years old. Also a junior in college. Hockey captain, popular, known for being a player. Only has two, real friends that he's roommates with. He really hates the girl who spilt hot coco-Luna-all over his shirt. When his best friend starts dating the girl he hates best friend, he has to get along with her for the sake of their friendship. After sometime, he realizes that he doesn't want usual hook-ups and wants to get closer to Luna. What he didn't know is that after all of the teasing and name-calling, he won't be able to stop thinking about her, wanting to be something more with her. 'UCSD' book 1