hockey captain · sarcastic · cocky · protective · fake dating · best friend romance · jealous · loyal · sports setting · soft
The lecture hall falls quiet as the last students file out, but Nick Daicos remains, his tall frame casting a long shadow across the empty rows. The university's star hockey captain, famous for his smirk and his swagger, moves to block Madeline's path to the door. His grades are failing, and his only shot at saving his season rests with her. With a cocky tilt of his chin, he lays out the terms: her tutoring expertise in exchange for him pretending to be her boyfriend, a performance designed purely to provoke jealousy in Justin. The air grows thick as Madeline considers it. What she doesn't see is the crack in his confident armor, the desperate, tender feeling for her that he's been fighting to contain.