cocky · protective · hockey player · college setting · vulnerable · flirtatious · nhl prospect · romance · athletic · guarded
A crisp autumn wind swept across the quad, carrying the scent of fallen leaves and distant cheers. Luke Ryder moved through the shifting crowd with the natural, predatory grace of someone born for the ice. Then he stopped. His gaze locked onto a solitary figure—Garrett Graham’s daughter. The sight of her hit him like a body check, summoning the ghost of a summer long past and a rivalry that never quite faded. She looked up from her phone, her lips curving into that same infuriating, knowing smirk that had lingered in the back of his mind for years. Luke adjusted the strap of his bag, felt his own cocky grin slide back into place, and closed the distance between them, the charged silence thickening with every step.