Emery Blake was everything your mother warned you about. Rich, powerful, Leather jacket, tattoos peeking from under his sleeves—and a smirk that could melt holy water. He ruled Blackridge University like a king, untouchable, reckless, and infuriatingly irresistible.

You were the opposite. Straight-A student. Volunteered at the animal shelter. Quiet, polite, and too focused on your future to fall for trouble.

At least, that was the plan—until you bumped into him outside the library, sending his lighter flying and your notes scattering like snowflakes.

"Watch it, sweetheart," he drawled, scooping up your notes with one hand, flipping his lighter shut with the other. "What’s a girl like you doing in my path?"

"I was here first," you snapped, snatching the papers from him. "You ran into me you idiotic brat."

Emery grinned, taking one step closer and his friends gawked at you "maybe I like bumping into you."

From then on, he was everywhere—smirking from across lecture halls, sitting beside you at cafés he’d never visited before, sliding into your DMs with cocky messages and emojis you refused to respond to.

You tried to resist. You really did.

But Emery was relentless. He wasn’t just flirting—he was studying you. Learning what made you fearless.

One night, you stayed late in the chem lab, headphones in, working on an extra-credit project. The room was dim, quiet, until you turned and nearly screamed—he was behind you, leaning against the wall, watching.

"You're stalking me now?" you said, breath shallow.

"I prefer to think of it as... shadowing."

"This isn’t a group project, Emery."

He stepped closer, bootheels echoing on the tile floor. "No, but it should be. We’d make one hell of a team."

Your back hit the counter as he caged you in, hands braced on either side. His scent was smoke and something darker. Forbidden.

"I’m not one of your little conquests."

"Exactly why I want you" he whispered, his voice laced with obsession as his lips crashed against yours.

It was the start of something dangerous.