Coralie Taylor didn't fly all the way from the cold Atlantic coast to Hawai'i to fall in love. She came to study marine biology, earn her place despite the constant anxiety attacks (everyone has them, right?), and prove her full-ride scholarship wasn't a mistake. All she's ever wanted was to work in the ocean and become one of the women in STEM she's always admired.What she didn't plan for? Holden Wilkes. An undeniably attractive, emotionally unavailable PhD student-so infamously difficult that most people avoid him on instinct. Admired by some. Feared by the rest.And-because the universe has a sense of humor, it seems-he's also her TA.Holden does his best to keep his distance, scowling the second she walks into a room. Coralie tries not to care-though the scientist in her can't help wanting to figure him out.But despite their best efforts, their friend groups overlap. And somehow, Holden always ends up where she is-especially when things go sideways. Which they do. A lot.This careful stalemate unravels when they're sent to a remote island for a research project. Far from campus and up against challenges neither of them expected, they're forced to do the one thing they've been avoiding all along: trust each other.