A Deal With The Cold Beast
/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?"
/1/105349/coverbig.jpg?v=6c1c912f8b4730c0d6827c56821b80e6)
THE BILLIONAIRE'S COLD DEAL
She needed a solution. He needed a wife. When Samantha Williams signs a six-month marriage contract with the ruthless billionaire Adrian Wolfe, emotions are strictly forbidden and love is not part of the deal. To the world, they are the perfect couple. Behind closed doors, they are two strangers bo
/0/55892/coverbig.jpg?v=97fc44926b573ed4d14292cdcdf75e97)
A Deal With The Billionaire.
Amelia is a young woman who has always struggled to make ends meet. She works a minimum-wage job and lives in a small apartment with her parents. One day, Amelia father is diagnosed with cancer. The medical bills quickly pile up, and Amelia's family is forced to declare bankruptcy. In desperation,
/0/69991/coverbig.jpg?v=6c7eefd4e4b55bc311d10fbedba0a876)
A Deal with the Billionaire
Grace Parker has dedicated her life to helping others, but when her nonprofit is on the verge of collapse, she's forced to strike a deal with the last man she ever wanted to rely on: Sebastian Cole. Cold, calculating, and devastatingly handsome, Sebastian offers to save her charity but only if she a
/0/60209/coverbig.jpg?v=ddd905515a08751819cae2a51e53b139)
A deal with the billionaire
After leaving the orphanage with her friends, Annabella had to live with different personalities in order to earn a living. At night she would disguise and work in the club as a stripper and would work as a waitress in a restaurant during day time. Apart from doing the job to earn a living, she deri
/1/105579/coverbig.jpg?v=71a6dd21b0e6ca131d7772bbf39492f5)
A deal with the ceo
The night before my wedding, my life shattered in the most brutal way. I came home earlier than expected and found the man I was about to marry in bed with my own cousin. Betrayed, humiliated, and heartbroken, I ran-without knowing where to go. That same night, fate led me to a powerful, untouchabl
/0/31409/coverbig.jpg?v=9c92367bebd3d1f006ae12d74009b772)
A Deal With The Millionaire
Blurb " Play the role of my bride on my wedding day and I will pay you any amount " The popular Millionaire, Shane Kent said to her. Who's she? Layla Brown, she's just 18 years old and is struggling to get enough money for her tuition fees to the university together with her best friend. Will s
/0/77625/coverbig.jpg?v=48738d3bffb52a214244744381535c6c)
A Deal With Destiny
Darcy's life goes out of control when her father is rushed to the hospital with a severe illness. With her savings depleted by her living expenses, she can't afford the mounting medical bills, and even her boss's help comes with a condition that is unacceptable. Stranded on a lonely road after her
/0/69140/coverbig.jpg?v=e07f203525618a6f8d7e40b58e3f2b5b)
A Deal with Desire
Elena Carter has spent years clawing her way up the corporate ladder, only to watch her dreams teeter on the edge of collapse. Her fledgling marketing start-up is drowning in debt, and the last thing she needs is Damian Blackwood-Manhattan's most ruthless billionaire-pulling the rug out from under h
/0/30689/coverbig.jpg?v=6cebb2cf60d032a9fbf13b99f8040818)
Deal with the devil
After Alicia's engagement was called off by her fiance, the world took a turn for her as she was too shocked to digest the news. Strangely, she found herself in a majestic room, another different world where everything seems so strange to her. What would become of her when she mistakes her saviour a
/0/29138/coverbig.jpg?v=b96233cff6684a7df42f0a76e722a483)
A Deal With The Mafia Queen
"You heard me, Damon Jones," I replied after a few seconds of silence that was honoured with his confused gaze. "I want us to be together. I want us to have sizzling moments that only you and I would know about. I want us to hold each other, naked and sweaty as our needs grow. Not once, not twice, b
/0/55099/coverbig.jpg?v=20260526072223)
Deal with the billionaire's
As Wren introduces his girlfriend, Anya, to his father, he's met with an unexpected demand: to break up with her immediately. Confused and enraged, Wren discovers a web of family secrets and financial ruin that compels his father to make a deal with the notorious billionaire, Don Manuel Ferrer. Caug
/0/41225/coverbig.jpg?v=7107b6b8fe277ea42e4b761f2b90e4b6)
Deal with the devil...
Leo arrived at the Kosvolk mansion in desperation, and unintentionally stumbled upon the woman who would be his contracted wife. However, his eyes were met with a regrettable surprise upon meeting the only daughter of the mafia boss Dimitriy. Leo determined that he would never commit himself to a sp
/0/48160/coverbig.jpg?v=66b37eb8b1c7502e6e58caeab2c07925)
A Night With My Beast
Alessandro Grayson is an CEO he is very rich and handsome, he can do everything he wants, left and right is the woman in his arm, many women cry, many try to turn him around but no one succeeds, for him the women are just a toy, A bitter incident came into his life, and ruined his perfect character,
/0/31998/coverbig.jpg?v=d5363a284cc0b9301230f11d1d2d4295)
Deal With A Bossy Marshal
"I've taken the time to read it, in fact, you are the real legitimate daughter of the Lincoln family. The current madam Dawn in the Lincoln now actually used to be your mother's bride servant girl and your younger sister is the illegitimate daughter of your father and the bride servant girl right? U
/1/119954/coverbig.jpg?v=0a5d83d02e6abed3fad9f33ed998910f)
A Deal With The Cursed Alpha king
She was wounded, rejected, betrayed and killed by the people she had given her all to. Reborn back to six months before her world fell apart. Celine must make a choice. But inseatd of fighting alone. She chose a contract with the Curse Alpha King. A man regarded as death himself! Alpha Kade
/0/71858/coverbig.jpg?v=35ad38fc6d9225835c1539ac3fb6e1ad)
A DEAL WITH THE DEVILISH BILLIONAIRE
Ava Hart, a fiercely independent accountant struggling to save her father from crippling debt, is forced into a contract marriage with enigmatic billionaire Damien Cross. Known as "The Devil in Armani," Damien is a ruthless businessman who leaves a trail of destroyed lives in his wake. He manipulate
/0/73963/coverbig.jpg?v=39402fe43daa11f5c9b1f25f967f5474)
A Deal With The Italian Mafia
"Her father nearly destroyed me. He escaped. But now, I have his daughter. And I will ruin her until there's nothing left to break." Italy was supposed to be her refuge. A fresh start. Instead, she walked straight into the jaws of a monster. Abducted for a crime she didn't commit, she swears she
/0/65906/coverbig.jpg?v=10a236dda334c9bb3c8a0f599f32b7cd)
A DEAL WITH THE BOSSY BILLIONAIRE
"If you don't want the public to know how you almost killed me, then, marry me" I said. "What?" The stranger asked, his mouth dropping open. "Marry me, Rowan Cardel" I repeated. "I want you to marry me" When Sia Stanton asked a complete stranger, Rowan Cardel, to marry her, she had only one goal-to
/0/64622/coverbig.jpg?v=b849ce36abad763417f117be80adeb4e)
A Deal With The Lycan King
I wasn't sure I wanted to get involved with someone so powerful. The energy he exuded the last time he was around was frightening as well as fascinating. But my curiosity got the better of me. "Go ahead then. I'm all ears." Right when I believed he was going to go ahead and spill it out, he took
/0/93466/coverbig.jpg?v=225ea9e076ea9420f139066889d02a1f)
A Deal with the Hockey Captain
Eden's eighteenth birthday was supposed to be her moment-the night she'd finally tell him. The boy she grew up loving. The one who kissed every girl but her. The one she saved her virginity for. She's spent years dreaming of Liam, chasing his smile, starving for his attention. But tonight, all he s
