Deep In Love: An Academic Rivals-to-Lovers Spicy STEM Romance

by Nicole Cubba

Every morning, there’s a single dark-chocolate square, filled with gooey caramel, sitting on my desk.

golly i wonder who that could be

Charles Darwin would take one look at Mateo and scribble down “marvelous specimen of a man” in his notebook.

Mateo: the most arrogant man on the planet and a fossil fuel supporter (not confirmed, but I have a hunch). He’s six feet, two inches of I’m smarter than you, with an infuriatingly attractive Spanish accent.

Ignoring my many tasks, I search for him so we can perform our song and dance, and I can move on with my life and stop thinking about where he could be or why he hasn’t shown up this morning.

and there it is

I’m not explaining to Mateo that I was looking for him because a small, irrational voice in my mind was worried that he was hurt or sick, and the thought unsettled me, so I had to search for him.

Time will tell if Charlie is responsive or not, and if she is, well, then maybe this odd relationship will evolve into something more. Something magnificent.

“Each one of these scars,” I start, trailing a finger along a larger one on her upper arm, “tells a story. They tell me you are brave, resilient, increíble.”

The world is complicated—messy and ever-changing. But she is my one absolute; my heart begins and ends with her.

I could spend the next forty years as a scientist, but you will always be my greatest discovery. My most important find. My purpose.”