HIS HEARTTHROB IS A TART
/1/129726/coverbig.jpg?v=d952b45e9b05aae9f5803a8b2c8d4fc6)
The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
/0/23531/coverbig.jpg?v=2db3dc81d4dd3e9fe609e4b93a4b4e1c)
HIS HEARTTHROB IS A TART
She is a prostitute, her name is OLIVIA LOGAN, stunning and beautiful but from a poor background. Being a prostitute has never been her priority but now it is That's the only option a friend Lilian could render , getting what she wants with what she has and for that she changed her name to KATE MAR
/0/26181/coverbig.jpg?v=6abc8969f1922435ad412e0855f1c7a1)
A Night With A Campus Heartthrob (Heartthrob Series #1)
Si Ronoel Delos Santos, college student sa isang sikat na unibersidad. Siya ay nagsisikap upang makapagtapos ng pag-aaral. Dahil pangarap niyang maiahon sa kahirapan ang kaniyang pamilya. Dito niya makikilala si Bryson Montefalco- ang campus heartthrob ng university. Mayaman, gwapo, matalino, simpl
/0/91697/coverbig.jpg?v=b478971b9c599fe2f7d46e54c20b8c76)
His Halo is a Lie
What happens when the man you save becomes the shadow you can't escape? Maya always believed she was just an ordinary nurse, quietly living each day as it came after a family tragedy that left her grieving and angry. But on a rainy night, everything changes when she finds a stranger bleeding in her
/1/113800/coverbig.jpg?v=8d743f2009eacf24d98be127346de8c2)
His Unwanted Fiancé Is A Genius Heiress
Karmen lived suffocating under a tight chest binder and a grotesque silicone scar, forced to disguise herself as her degenerate twin brother, Kem. Her only job was to maintain a fake corporate engagement with the ruthless billionaire Earl Calderon. But her abusive father suddenly escalated his dema
/1/114547/coverbig.jpg?v=a55868e1c7c455d56f02a3ce028be02a)
His Unwanted Wife Is A Genius Designer
For six years, I played the perfect, submissive wife to Wall Street titan Francis Castro. I suffocated my own ambitions to fit into his conservative world. But while I waited alone at a Michelin restaurant, a news alert popped up. My husband had just dropped millions on an aquamarine diamond neckla
/1/116225/coverbig.jpg?v=5a2f47d1d43c41cdeba896ee19c05656)
His Fake Wife Is A Genius Hacker
I was married to the city's celebrated FBI hero, Harrison Phelps. But when I was bleeding out on our floor from a miscarriage, he stepped right over me to attend a welcome-home party for his female partner, Brooke. "It’s not a baby yet. It’s just a clump of cells." He delivered those cold words a
/1/116735/coverbig.jpg?v=9e24a6b7861f1216f5b634a42e0a9221)
His Accidental Wife Is A Secret Tycoon
Jaden's abusive foster parents forced her to marry a 62-year-old criminal to pay off their underground gambling debts. They treated her like human trafficking merchandise with a price tag. But the old man never made it to City Hall. Due to a chaotic mix-up in the lobby, Jaden accidentally signed th
/1/127459/coverbig.jpg?v=42d6288e7da178bd6291d7a9d4233c82)
His Despised Stray Is A Hidden Queen
After my parents died, my pureblood uncle threw a pouch of ten thousand gold coins onto his mahogany desk. He demanded I take my seven-year-old brother, drop out of the magic academy, and cross into the mortal slums forever. "Consider your connection to this house severed." He sneered, warning me
/1/112396/coverbig.jpg?v=ea4d7f48f290355acebcc18894b8e803)
His Trophy Wife Is A Predator
I married the CEO of the powerful Powers Corporation, and everyone saw me as the perfect trophy wife. They assumed my days were filled with nothing but shopping on Fifth Avenue. But this prestigious family was a house of cards. My husband's siblings were spoiled, useless children threatening to bri
/1/118185/coverbig.jpg?v=1fb9dc5e993c9f3cb8e6a4639eb1730f)
His Unwanted Wife Is A Secret Genius
For three years, I played the perfect, invisible wife to billionaire Darien Carlisle, even burying my secret identity as the legendary fashion designer "AURA." But on our third anniversary, while I was curled up in agony from a stomach ulcer, I saw the news: he was buying a diamond necklace for his
/1/115534/coverbig.jpg?v=168d3bf92e43efabc432c92068312597)
His Unwanted Wife Is A Genius Healer
Elizbeth married the wealthy heir Carlton Wilkinson to save her grandfather's life's work. But on their wedding night, instead of a loving husband, she faced a cold tyrant. He forced her to sign a brutal prenup, stripped her of all family rights, and banished her to a dingy guest room. He was conv
/1/112155/coverbig.jpg?v=d19a544418502e58c1cd483907d6bc2f)
His Betrayed Mate Is A Famous Healer
What if the mate you waited for two years chooses your sister as his luna instead of you? Would you agree to be his mistress like he wanted? This was Annette's fate. Being the unloved daughter of the family, mistreated and bullied wasn't enough. Now her mate called her 'useless' and wasted her two
/1/117498/coverbig.jpg?v=6f021002fe2dd3252a28615ccfb69d27)
His Unwanted Wife Is A Tech Genius
For three years, Cali Sullivan abandoned her brilliant tech career to be the quiet, accommodating wife of billionaire Halsey Donovan. But on her thirtieth birthday, she returned to their London mansion only to find it empty. The housekeeper, looking at her with deep pity, revealed that Halsey had ta
/0/75843/coverbig.jpg?v=d4a95b2505f79b6620d063905b7fb5a9)
HIS MALE SLAVE IS A WOMAN
To the ruthless Alpha Ashen Vladimir III, loyalty is everything,and disobedience is death. So when a sharp-tongued male slave named Nicholas is sent to serve in his brutal court as a server boy Ashen doesn't expect defiance... or attraction. But "Nicholas" is no ordinary slave. She is Nicolette Si
/1/112624/coverbig.jpg?v=fc7d04d5ae77d33540fc5e0618d8cdef)
His Unwanted Wife Is A Top Scientist
For four years, I played the perfect, naive, low-income wife to my wealthy husband Duke, completely hiding my true identity as a top-secret DARPA scientist. On our anniversary, I discovered he was having an affair with an old-money socialite named Adelia. He used our marital assets to buy her a ha
/1/119273/coverbig.jpg?v=8d722f917257edd761b80919cb907beb)
His Unwanted Wife Is A Genius
On the night of her birthday, Chloe's billionaire husband, Griffin, dragged her out of bed. He didn't take her to celebrate. Instead, he forced her into a sterile clinic, pinning her to a chair to draw her blood for Jaida—the fragile woman he truly cared for. While Chloe almost fainted from the bl
/1/125281/coverbig.jpg?v=da7fa1ebbb879bd509345a177f36ca1d)
His Unwanted Wife Is A Tech Zillionaire
On her seventh wedding anniversary, Christoper sat alone at a cold dining table waiting for her billionaire husband, Edmund. A glance at his shared location revealed he wasn't at the office. He was at his private racetrack, intimately mentoring his young protégée, Janessa. Christoper drove there i
/1/119736/coverbig.jpg?v=ea0117e5b0d4aebf69756fabf9ef86da)
His Unwanted Mute Bride Is A Genius
Aria Sinclair, supposedly a mute, uneducated orphan from the Appalachian mountains, was brought into the ultra-wealthy Sterling family to fulfill an old debt. The family patriarch forced his arrogant grandson, Julian, to marry her, instantly making her the target of their vicious elite circle. Jul
/1/115137/coverbig.jpg?v=589b5ef8620ab207245d4a00bed5be7c)
His Broken Bride Is A Hidden Genius
Adeline's stepmother had secretly drugged her for years, turning a child genius into a drooling, mentally disabled laughingstock just so her stepsister could steal her life. But when her greedy father sold her off to Griffin Herring—a violent, untouchable billionaire psychopath—to save his company,
/1/118540/coverbig.jpg?v=a1d615cda4d507e01618923203edf856)
His Neglected Wife Is A Genius Auctioneer
Chloe had just undergone surgery to remove her fallopian tube, but her billionaire husband, Julian, didn't show up at the hospital. Instead, his housekeeper called, ordering her to attend a business dinner. When she dragged her agonizing, stitched-up body back to their penthouse, Julian didn't as
