Overview

Alex Thompson is a genius.

The youngest doctoral candidate in Marrowridge College’s history, he spends his life buried in physics problems and emotional armor. Friendships are few, sex is theoretical, and love? Love is a variable he can’t solve. But when a fallen football star stumbles into his life, everything unravels—beautifully, disastrously, and far too fast.

Kyle Mercer was a golden boy.

Quarterback. Campus royalty. Until a car crash stole his arm, his future, and his carefully curated identity. Now bitter, broken, and barely holding on, he needs help to pass his classes—or risk losing his scholarship. Enter Alex: the awkward, sarcastic brainiac he once ignored.

Tutoring is supposed to be transactional.

But between problem sets and pizza nights, Kyle starts to look at Alex differently. And Alex—despite every instinct screaming not to—is falling hard for the boy who once made his life miserable. The one who’s now showing up with bruised pride, terrible math skills, and eyes that burn like confession.

Then Kyle kisses him. In public. On New Year’s Eve. And tells him not to read into it.

But Alex has read into it. Every glance. Every silence. Every late-night text.

And when Kyle’s trauma reaches its breaking point, only one person shows up to pull him back from the edge.