Bound By Marriage Captivated By Love
/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?"
/0/50406/coverbig.jpg?v=e201761b29879f9857135b8f0a850606)
Bound By Marriage: Captivated By Love
Bound by an unexpected one-night stand, She finds herself coerced into marriage with a mysterious man whose family demands an heir. Unbeknownst to her, he is affluent , the wealthiest man in G City, exuding both charm and arrogance. Despite his impeccable reputation, Her heart belongs to another.
/0/55879/coverbig.jpg?v=deca50208db6e1d7bd5bd4fddd205cb3)
Captivated By Desire
In the heart of Rome, where ancient ruins whispered tales of love lost and found, Giovanni Castellano wandered the cobblestone streets with a sense of longing in his heart. As an accomplished architect, Giovanni's days were filled with blueprints and designs, but his nights were lonely, the weight o
/0/20380/coverbig.jpg?v=b86cd82260fac57bb5e453b18ee731b7)
Captivated By A Star
Gywneth Villain is a certified and well-known nerd on the campus, she doesn't want to fraternize with people and especially with her schoolmates. She is not pretty nor beautiful like campus princesses. And she is also not smart like the Campus Bee. Gywneth is a vicious type of person. She did
/0/56751/coverbig.jpg?v=710ebf3889dcee96ca18f8ce70515a18)
Captivated by Mr. Billionaire
Rafael Achilles Cordova is the notoriously cold CEO of Cordova Industries, unrivaled in the business world. Raised as the successor of his father's company, he poured his life into preparing to inherit the company and grew up with no other interests. No care for women, money, or life in general. Fo
/0/18988/coverbig.jpg?v=2a247575a3c52c2003fa01e002750122)
Captivated By Devil: Exclusive Love For You
Opening the door, she had no idea that she had stepped into the devil's room. In the darkness, he had a taste of her sweetness. That morning, he left her a diamond ring. Marriage was only the way he used to trap her, but she thought happiness finally found her. He was the mysterious heartthrob rumor
/0/89799/coverbig.jpg?v=3fe2e4dc64437eff3d7cb5064c418d61)
Bound by Love Marked by fire
🔥 Bound by Love, Marked by Fire 🔥 Amelia never believed in destiny until the night a searing mark burned across her skin, binding her to Lucien, the most feared Alpha in the supernatural world.But fate isn't a fairytale. Whispers of betrayal lurk in the shadows, a forgotten enemy stirs in the spi
/0/60959/coverbig.jpg?v=0d1b0b8af768b6b75e70ac4e5ea40b90)
Bound By Blood Torn by love
Five good years, that's how long it took for Julie to finally forgive the man who broke her heart into millions pieces. But when fate throws her back into his path, it's not the playboy and carefree boy she remembers. He's now a billionaire. Her ruthless rival is a seductive shadow from her past who
/0/66637/coverbig.jpg?v=bb2ae6b7b28ed81734c59525f9d02b69)
Bound by Love, Entwined by Fate
Ethan Blackwood is 29 and a tough CEO. He seems to have it all but has trouble showing his feelings. He is set to marry Sofia Turner. She's 24 and has been through a lot. Sofia is confused. She feels safe but also wants to take chances. What begins as a business deal becomes much more. Secrets and l
/0/83553/coverbig.jpg?v=879fcde6cf925385da3055c27bd19af8)
Bound by Contract, Freed by Love
Elena Hart is a genius scientist mired in debt and can't even afford her mother's life-saving surgery. Her rescuer can only be one man: Dominic Blackwood, a ruthless billionaire who doesn't believe in love but needs a wife for some mysterious reason that Elena can't fathom. When he offers to marry h
/0/75045/coverbig.jpg?v=69169af37ff4d7369b972a16e37f140e)
Bound by Revenge, Torn by Love
They are from different worlds but have one thing in common. The same enemy. The Gilberts. He wants them down to pay for the assassination of his father. She wants them down to regret messing with a lowlife when her lover was given away in an arranged marriage in place of her. Together, Amelia an
/0/60418/coverbig.jpg?v=535f41c86241cabe63f7f943a1a454b9)
Mate by Fate Bound by Love
Lena is an Omega, bullied and humiliated by the entire Pack. Her only hope was the mating ceremony where she will get a mate and finally mean something special to someone. But fate is cruel as her mate Ethan, the future Alpha of her pack, brutally rejects her in favor of another woman. Broken and d
/0/99129/coverbig.jpg?v=1b2b751b1891a3560407305b0b82d602)
Bound by Fate, Freed by Love
Grace Donovan never believed in fairy tales especially not the kind that begin with an arranged marriage. When her family forces her to marry Adrian Cole, a man she's never met but everyone secretly desires, she's ready for battle, not romance. Adrian is everything Grace despises arrogant, composed
/0/98500/coverbig.jpg?v=4ce87fdc30d3811361485cdec871d517)
CAPTIVATED BY HIS DARK DESIRES
"You don't know what you're playing with." He murmured, His hand traced a slow path down my arm, fingers firm but deliberate, sending a shiver straight to my core. "You are scared" "I'm not." I whispered. He smiled. "You should be." Before I could think, he closed the distance, his lips crashing
/0/71332/coverbig.jpg?v=52b923a40828e1ea63bd1a01254b0575)
Bound By Love, Not blood
"If this is the boy you've been talking about, and he's Ryan's son, You can't marry him, Sonia. You absolutely can't!!!!" My mum said, as tears rolled out of her eyes. "And why's that?" I asked, feeling the blood drain from my head. "Because he's your brother!!!!" Sonia and Ben, deeply in love and
/0/73714/coverbig.jpg?v=0f7747f0798f6a3c9db0face4ebb18ab)
BOUND BY LOVE AND BLACKMAIL
"...Hey, Robin, hey Xana," I said calmly, despite the tumultuous thoughts that were running wild in my head. He spun around, alarmed, recognizing my voice and put his hands over his mouth. "Oh, shit, honey this is not what you.." I raised my left hand, as a gesture of "Don't", and the first tear
/0/71035/coverbig.jpg?v=814e1946a5b23f16a04a29dcd21ec917)
Bound by love and betrayal
Evelyn Evie Moretti never wanted to be part of the mafia world. But when her father's debts to the powerful Romano family spiral out of control, she's forced into an arranged marriage with Don Alessandro Alessio Romano, a ruthless mafia boss with a dark agenda. Trapped in a marriage built on hatred
/0/45075/coverbig.jpg?v=20230823184022)
Bound By The Mafia's Love
"This is all your fault!" he seethes. His eyes ablaze, I could feel his rage creeping up my skin and leaving goosebumps behind. "We never should have met. You should never have gone down that alley, and we would never have met. I should have just listened to Marco and killed you." "I should never
/0/65001/coverbig.jpg?v=65d19d6cc8fd19ff0990ac7a6a74b941)
Oasis of Love: Bound by Duty, Entangled by Desire
She's come to the desert to fulfill her duty, but destiny has other plans. Tasked with caring for an ailing father, she finds herself drawn into the life-and arms-of the region's most eligible CEO. As her professional boundaries blur with forbidden passion, she faces a choice between loyalty to her
/0/72059/coverbig.jpg?v=bf1cf80ec35223601efaf613fc096ef8)
The Alpha's Captive: Bound by Fate, Freed by Love
Sold. Hunted. Trapped. Wolfless Omega Malia Slade thought she had escaped her fate when she fled with Logan Lane-her true mate and the rightful heir to the Silver Pine Pack. But freedom came at a cost. Rhys, the ruthless son of the Alpha King, tore her away and locked her in a gilded cage. Now, as
/1/116594/coverbig.jpg?v=2810bd4b25ff5a32cbbbe6ee89abf6a2)
Bound By The Tycoon's Dark Love
Chloe Sullivan finally thought she had escaped her high school nightmare. She was a successful Manhattan corporate lawyer, celebrating a massive case win. But the lounge lights flickered, and there he was. Axel Sinclair, the billionaire who had relentlessly controlled her ten years ago. He hadn't j
