ACRID DESIRE
/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?"
/0/21395/coverbig.jpg?v=e395fcff577870ad85ae9084648df02e)
Billionaire Desire
Billionaire Desire No man could ever make her weak, with a strict yet passionate bringing up she made sure to keep her hard façade up without letting any man ruin her chances of greatness. She got to where she is now because of her passion and determination and nothing could stand in her way. Th
/0/47932/coverbig.jpg?v=66b37eb8b1c7502e6e58caeab2c07925)
Desire Awoken
"Laupe that's right!" He begged his father to keep whipping him. His body is full of wounds and he does not know why he is still alive. "You're worthless! Stupid!" he whipped him again. "Ouchthat's right! Alas!" she just cried. She's only 12 years old but she's already an assassin. She grew up in a
/0/55013/coverbig.jpg?v=f7760b193126c15b01909383c73fff86)
Painful desire
"Leave me alone, Shantal!" ash said annoyed to me. He's my husband, actually I'm probably the only one who calls him husband because he never once considered me his wife. And his family just forced him to marry me, so he followed it against his will. I smiled at myself in front of the mirror and
/0/22127/coverbig.jpg?v=be5c3b4a879cc9eb6d8ff7f5985ea34a)
Immortal Desire
Sleeping with someone else's mate? The possessive Vampire Lord and the dominant Alpha are fighting over her! Latina de Llava is under Sebastian's Claret's spell. She falls in love with him not knowing about his true identity. He alters her memories and plays with her on his bed. Until one day, Lat
/0/64828/coverbig.jpg?v=e232139627f930bff98e93b86d5bad87)
UNVEILED DESIRE
The last thing she remembered was his smirk, the first thing she forgot was her own name...... Now he appeared everywhere in her life...her one night stand. "What do you want from me?!" She screamed, dragging her hand away from his. "I want you." Ava Morales got drunk after being frust
/0/25761/coverbig.jpg?v=af958dba2c8c7088a110d6f4619c40f1)
Perverted Desire
️Mature Romance [Adult Scene - Harsh Speech - Physical Violence] "Damn it! Am I crazy! This is so crazy!" Cashelie trembled at the reality of what had happened. Ahhh... "You really are delicious and make me drunk!" said the man who was half-mad, due to the pleasure he felt from their hot relationsh
/0/33714/coverbig.jpg?v=8d5c6bfde52cbfbc7c5ea38a31d4fd3c)
Savage Desire
Jeremy Stanton vs. Ryan Hicks Jeremy Stanton was one of the most feared alphas of all time and alpha to one of the largest and most powerful packs in the world. Everyone who knew the alpha knew that he didn’t care for same-sex relationships. He thought it was a waste of time and seed. Whilst gettin
/0/44025/coverbig.jpg?v=46201a3fbb49e01d9d38c400f415668f)
IRRESTIBLE DESIRE
😘IRRESISTIBLE DESIRE😍 😏 Wanted by the mafia lord 😚 😥 He's so cruel,i hate him.😫 I want her with or without her permission. Prologue Fuck you Alaskan, she yell in anger spitting on his face. A resounding slap with devious smile erupts from his smile. Ch
/0/51347/coverbig.jpg?v=7fcd561b86dfa5c9a32f7518af2c8a32)
Pure Desire
The story revolves around May, a teenager whose parents divorced, leading her to live with her distant father in Melbourne while her mother and brother moved to Sydney. May's rebellious behavior to seek attention prompts her father to send her to Sydney for the summer. During the plane journey, she
/1/132428/coverbig.jpg?v=7c3d532c222bdf6f1f8b096a28731e6a)
Filthy Desire
Some men don't ask. They take. This collection is for the nights when soft isn't enough. When you want to be stretched, claimed, and used until your legs won't stop shaking. Inside these pages, power is absolute, pleasure is relentless, and every boundary exists only to be broken. Expect the kin
/0/62890/coverbig.jpg?v=08a136a63059d033820a93e14372cd58)
Tangled desire
Not one. Not two. But three men. All three connected to each other in one way or the other. As a struggling lady with bills to pay, I had no time for love. I was married off to the son of a billionaire, Grey Blackwood, to help raise funds for my mother's health. That was when I discovered there was
/0/24572/coverbig.jpg?v=ccf4acbf415be868855e017443fcd954)
Desire Swells
Storm is the CEO OF THE FIRST BRANCH OF LEGACY COMPANY. To all his employees. He was Nasty and harsh. After his first love betrayed him, he was never happy and he rarely smiled. People dubbed him the "devil without a heart", and no matter how many women or men he slept with, he couldn't stop thinkin
/0/82918/coverbig.jpg?v=540ed98854722b94cca94a3233c1b06a)
Obsidian Desire
Eden Clair never knew desire could be dangerous, until she met him. Fresh out of a toxic engagement and trying to rebuild a shattered life, Eden lands a quiet job cataloguing rare art. Then comes Cassian Vale, an enigmatic billionaire art dealer with a reputation as ruthless as he is refined. Seduct
/0/27876/coverbig.jpg?v=1baae393e86514477915f0251a45eaf8)
Forced Desire
Carina Swan is a self-taught painter with a lively personality, but all changes when she meets the man she believes can alter her life for the better, but she is mistaken. This man will be the one capable of inducing nightmares in her. However, she uncovers a past that can serve as a warning to her
/0/25601/coverbig.jpg?v=137cf77c37fc0ad532d06af4ff4cd416)
Unfulfilled Desire
What is it about life that makes it so challenging? We may not always have what we want, and the things we do have are either unappreciated or we fail to recognize their true value until it's too late. Riya, like any other young woman her age, fantasized about meeting the right guy and living
/1/126357/coverbig.jpg?v=e083754579480f65b91b79a9e4cef301)
Heated Desire
She needs millions to save her family home. He needs a wife for twelve months. Neither expected desire to become part of the deal. When Isabella's family is given only forty-eight hours to settle a devastating debt, she has nowhere left to turn. Then billionaire Adrian Blackwood offers her an impo
/0/71627/coverbig.jpg?v=388ee9c8384846996194eb8ffbd31312)
Selfish Desire
Rosa Thompson the daughter of Mr. Thompson from an average family. She was maltreated by her step mom and sister. Her dad doesn't really care about her after her mom's death. She ended up on the street. Her family thought she will remain a nobody for life. Rosa dreams came through after meeting the
/0/88300/coverbig.jpg?v=8de6d522f0beca9e06109db7ded12b25)
MAYA'S DESIRE
Life hasn't always been easy for Maya Coleman. Abused constantly by her mother since she could remember, she faced the challenges of survival in the humbling streets of Lindsay, California. Maya, accustomed to fending for herself, struggles to adapt to her father's new life, which includes his new w
/0/86673/coverbig.jpg?v=310787b04242ec6aab31bd4e17ab2913)
Trapped Desire
Annette, a 22 year old woman, inherits her father's debts to a ruthless multi-Billionaire. When she can't repay the debt, he proposes a shocking alternative. Trapped in a web of debt and desire, she is forced to surrender to Oliver's game. But as his obsession with the innocent young woman grows, h
/0/28061/coverbig.jpg?v=b85d2638ed538e44ea54bddfc2cd8d10)
His Desire
"Ark," I gasp out, the intensity of his dark gaze alone pinning me to the bed. He leans down, wrapping his gloved hand around my neck, the pressure making my head spin in the best way. "I do own you." ----- As a Princess, Kiva is always in danger. So much so, one night, her home is broken int
