The Intimacy Protocol

A Sci-Fi Romance of Intellectual Enemies in Forced Proximity, Forbidden Desire, and High-Stakes Academia Workplace Life

By: Victoria Vyx

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Their minds must merge to solve the mystery.
Their hearts were never supposed to be involved.
But what happens when the academy’s wildest mind is forced into a research partnership with its coldest heart?

Nova Quinn thrives on chaos. She talks too fast, thinks even faster, and can dismantle an entire neural algorithm before breakfast. At the Ad Astra Academy, she’s the brilliant wild card no one can control—least of all Dr. Elias Vire, the youngest tenured faculty researcher in academy history and a man carved entirely from ice.

When they’re assigned to decode an alien artifact that reacts to emotional resonance, their fates are sealed: they’ll have to work in perfect mental sync. Constant proximity. Shared thoughts. No way to hide from each other’s flaws… or desires.

But as rival minds become something dangerously closer, the artifact begins to show signs of sentience—and it’s learning from them. Every breakthrough comes with a cost, and the academy’s rules are clear: nothing, not even love, is worth the risk of failure.

In a place where knowledge is power and desire is dangerous, Nova and Elias will have to decide which is more dangerous—falling for each other, or surviving without each other.

Perfect for fans of:

• Dark academia sci-fi romance

• Enemies to lovers & forced proximity

• Neurodivergent heroines & ice-cold academic rivals

• Slow burn desire with high-stakes mystery