Married by Contract book 1
/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?"
/0/54909/coverbig.jpg?v=20240623234020)
Married by Contract - book 1
Margareth Miller, or Meg to those close to her, had a perfect life with her family. But her life was turned upside down by a terrible accident. Since then, her life has been a real hell. Christian Winchester had a difficult childhood, but his life became perfect. It's full of parties, drinks,
/0/48450/coverbig.jpg?v=d9a06d03d0c1a6f70968b92658859f2f)
Married By Contract
Unaware of their shared past, they enter into a marriage contract, only to discover that destiny has brought them back together. As they navigate the challenges of their contractual union, buried childhood memories resurface, revealing a love that has endured through time. Will the terms of thei
/0/54156/coverbig.jpg?v=53aba7060e5935052ccee396e1937fab)
Married by the contract
Clair, Twenty four, had always been the kind to have life handed to her. Because of the love and care her parents , Brother, best friend and relatives, around her, the only thing she didn’t have was freedom. Her whole life was being decided for her, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it,
/1/108293/coverbig.jpg?v=021fa1a0a0bf5ca14291ee5715ae5d3a)
Married by Contract
Zarah never imagined marrying a stranger-especially a cold billionaire with a dark past. Forced into a contract marriage to save her sick mother, she agrees to one year without love. But secrets, jealousy, and forbidden feelings begin to blur the rules. When the contract ends... will love survive?
/1/105899/coverbig.jpg?v=058782591fb71967ce0887c09544715e)
Married by contract love by Fate
Talia Morgan is a broke final-year medical student with one nightmare she cannot escape - her mother is dying, and the hospital bills are impossible to pay. Just when all hope is lost, she receives an unbelievable offer: a one-year contract marriage to billionaire tech CEO Adrian Blackwood... in ex
/0/90632/coverbig.jpg?v=b84ce969be73d7e12fa4a34c489aa5d6)
Hated By The Alpha - book 1
Witches and Werewolves lived under a curse, forbidden from using their powers or embracing their true nature. To break the curse, the Alpha had to unite through a child with a Witch descended from the first ones. He refused to touch any virgin, let alone a witch. She had no knowledge of her lineage
/0/20379/coverbig.jpg?v=72b03dd0e99f88af74f5e257addcb541)
Heiress Book 1: Revenge
Alysia inherited all the properties left by Domenick. Something that angered her Father's second family. But they did nothing because Alysia was the only and true heir in the Zaragosa family. One day Alysia suddenly became seriously ill due to loss of voice. She lost power over the Mansion and gener
/0/38485/coverbig.jpg?v=4e778849f9ad8b0e1b37de3e9136e84c)
Martyr Wife Book 1
Daisy Sellion, the woman who endured for her family. Got sick, and became submissive to her husband, Anton. Even though he betrays her and deceives her face to face, she still manages to live with him. That was because of her child and their future child who was still in the womb. But how long can
/0/12976/coverbig.jpg?v=5ec9f154c0705e4fa8a9d3cbb0564c01)
/0/18082/coverbig.jpg?v=231aa5fe7f2bcce6234877b4d65c7db0)
Agent 13 (Book 1)
"With all due respect sir, adding a new member to this team will only slow us down." "On the contrary, if anything your team will slow her down." *** She's the ghost story you tell around a camp fire. The monster that hides in your closet. The nightmare that wakes you from your sleep. She's
/0/20178/coverbig.jpg?v=2165a105d7950c1318e04098a08c7c1d)
Autumn Book 1
Autumn is no ordinary fifteen year old girl she has secrets so deep she is afraid to share them with anyone can Mathew Harding a university graduate in physiology over come her fears and talk about hers secrets to come out of the dark. The hard headed red haired goth girl stirs the male popularity
/0/68874/coverbig.jpg?v=20250404020437)
KILLER book 1
*MATURE SCENE ALERT* 18+ His lips claimed every inch of my body, leaving red beauty marks on my skin that was his perfect way to claim me, to make sure that everyone knows I was his, only his own. He traced the scars on my body and then looked at me like he needed some kind of permission. "Hold me
/0/18084/coverbig.jpg?v=11a25728696650c33282eff97f3146c2)
Agent 1 (Book 3)
"What makes you think we can trust this Agent 1 guy?" "I-uh, I knew him before he was an agent...he's trustworthy...to an extent." "And I already told you I corrupted him. It's all good." "We're all going to die." *** Devin's hurt. Jason's missing. Lily's alive. The team fina
/0/16589/coverbig.jpg?v=9c6f2d5d2a7b91ca03ec58e2a4da92d2)
/0/62380/coverbig.jpg?v=20240930112018)
Married on a contract
Billionaire contract marriage "I'll make her fall for me and then abándon her!" A daring bet--Who falls for who? Scarlett Kingston is an actress with a promising career. However, Scarlett doesn't believe in love. For her, it's a big waste of time ...until she meets the CEO of an entertainment
/0/34397/coverbig.jpg?v=5d122e2f8fd6b740971eb68f8bc68fc5)
The Possessive Alpha: Book 1
Elle Davidson, orphaned at 12 with limited memory, is taken in by the Alpha and Luna of the New Moon pack. There she meets Damon Ledger, the future Alpha and her nemesis. Damon does everything he can to control Elle's life, and his friends do everything they can to make her life hell. All of that ch
/0/41146/coverbig.jpg?v=2e0323e2d40298365b675cd6c4b90e05)
Traps of Fate / Book 1
Emma Collins is a young secretary, who, after being fired from her old job due to the harassment of one of her co-workers, finds herself in search of a new job to be able to maintain herself. Thomas Mitchell, a young CEO, with a rigid posture and frown. He is known for leading one of the largest
/1/102990/coverbig.jpg?v=3437944294c1942a22479ac745178618)
Mafia's contract: Bound by Contract
Aiden Armstrong, CEO of skylight group and boss of the Dark Flood mafia, has a dark fetish for virgins-an obsession that leads him to Avery Kingston. He was in need of a wife in order to get control of his grandfather's legacy. The Kingston's offered him a proposal, one where both sides benefi
/0/11795/coverbig.jpg?v=f1737b3226e4c7f9ab6415a8528404d6)
A Far Country, Book 1
Not to be confused with the famous British prime minister, Winston Churchill was a 20th century American author known for best-selling historical fiction and adventure novels. One of his novels, The Crisis, is set in the American Civil War and was the most popular book of 1901.
/0/70373/coverbig.jpg?v=99cdf97d216fe68daa915100950efb75)
Cruel Fates (Empires Book 1)
In a realm ravaged by war, two brothers-in-arms, Galen Marek and Xanthos Thorne, find themselves on opposing sides of the conflict. Galen, driven by a thirst for adventure and a longing to uncover his true heritage, discovers his latent "Gifts" – magical abilities that set him apart. But this newfou
