Wife On Paper
/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?"
/0/79493/coverbig.jpg?v=826938fa2d6147a359ff89b8580da6c0)
His wife on paper
He owns her name. He owns her body. He'll never love her. Alina Rae was never meant to wear the Vale name. But when the billionaire's bride vanishes on their wedding day, she's forced to take her place-sign the contract, wear the ring, and play the perfect wife. To Xander Vale, love is a weakness.
/0/75882/coverbig.jpg?v=f0c7fd40c96192a9d7843d585cd6f704)
Wife On Paper, Love Unexpected
Rania catches her fiancé, Damian, cheating with her best friend Camila at a bar. Heartbroken, she calls off their engagement and walks out of Damian's life. In the midst of her sorrow, Rania meets Kenzo, a young billionaire known as Damian's greatest business rival. Kenzo proposes a two-year contra
/0/55754/coverbig.jpg?v=d7ffcdaa3b5f086a0f62e0f839e79db4)
I'm Just Your Wife On Paper
"Lazel Hyrroz," I said her name firmly and coldly. I followed him until we entered his room. He unbuttoned his uniform after collapsing, dropping his backpack on the bed. "I'm tired. Don't bother me now," he told me coldly without looking at me. "That's why I'm asking you why you're here now and
/1/115247/coverbig.jpg?v=df3d48543ee872f55fc3ccdc2efe2a1c)
The Billionaire's Secret Paper Wife
Chantal Lewis's family legacy was twenty-four hours away from a fifty-million-dollar foreclosure. Desperate to save her parents, she sold her soul, offering herself as a paper wife to Dell Valdez, a ruthless Wall Street billionaire needing a quick PR fix. But Dell didn't just buy her; he trapped h
/0/39670/coverbig.jpg?v=ddeab108541159d1f9cf1864df2ab655)
Married On Paper To The Billionaire
Love is not part of why billionaire CEO, Kane Beaumont marries his virgin bride, Emilia Taylor. It was purely a contract deal to him and nothing more. Saving her family's business from the claws of evil loan sharks is Emilia's motive for marrying a man she barely knew. However, she doesn't count on
/1/109104/coverbig.jpg?v=61db69c5bd93a23a3a2af51a8435cf51)
The CEO's Contract Bride: Marriage On Paper
She lost her job, her love, and her home until the man who fired her offered her a lifeline... in the form of a contract marriage.When loyal secretary Natasha Hills is wrongly accused of corporate betrayal, she's cast out by billionaire CEO Bruce Stamford and left broken by the sudden disappearance
/1/104382/coverbig.jpg?v=83d4271de046a04ee2251c6ca93ee74c)
My Wickedly Charming Professor: Married On Paper, Obsessed In Class
At sixteen, Liz Navarro lost her parents and faced the world alone. Bound by her father's will, she was married at eighteen to a stranger appointed to watch her life-stay wed until twenty-five, earn a law degree, then claim the family empire. Wealth kept her sheltered, and duty kept her caged,
/0/45420/coverbig.jpg?v=5066d178b3829da00b159ff1284c1906)
Bound By paper Hearts
Left on their wedding day by her fiancé, Alice finds herself in a contractual union with a wealthy man urgently seeking a bride. Over time, she came to the realization that dealing with the billionaire was no simple task, and being married to this formidable yet merciless man felt like navigating a
/0/99333/coverbig.jpg?v=91a60a6edd9bc76f27627762b1e9d929)
His Paper Bride
Ella, a determined and resilient young woman, is thrust into a world of challenges and unexpected opportunities after her father's betrayal by his closest friend and business partner. Desperate to restore her family's lost comfort, Ella immerses herself in a high-stakes job at a prestigious company,
/0/18708/coverbig.jpg?v=75d55042051fac1cd745c3cfaef14c2e)
Irresistible Affection: CEO's Gossip Wife
On her first day at work, Evelyn was immediately fired by Byron, the heartless CEO himself. When she realized that she had lost her job even before she started working, she summoned up her courage and looked straight into his eyes. No one had ever dared to point at his nose and confront him, and she
/0/38294/coverbig.jpg?v=6a68c016d59858364fb7fd7b41fed634)
Bullying Dote on His Sweet Wife
Lan Chunxia died. She drove down the mountain in a wedding dress, and the car was destroyed. Ye Hansheng thought that Lan Chunxia, whom he hated most, was dead. He should relieve his hate, but when he saw with his own eyes that this cuckold wife had become a pool of mud, he suddenly felt like his he
/1/135276/coverbig.jpg?v=79300f29cc80533958e64b5deceddc43)
Wife on Strike! Beg Harder, Mr. Billionaire!
The loneliest I've ever felt was lying beside a man who once promised he'd never let me feel alone. For three years, I waited for my billionaire husband to love me the way he used to. I gave up my dreams, planned his life, and smiled through every forgotten anniversary, hoping that one day, he'd loo
/0/84399/coverbig.jpg?v=74487f6f03ddd086ca935c46c1a991dd)
Wife on the Wire: A Mother's Sacrifice
My first life ended with a bomb, a cruel joke played by my own husband, Andrew. Then, a blink, and I was back, the bitter taste of betrayal fresh on my tongue. This time, it wasn't me on the bomb, but my mother-in-law, trapped on a pressure plate in a derelict industrial lot. Andrew, an EOD exper
/0/57137/coverbig.jpg?v=a47b9747aaaebaaf9f0a13ee4ef5f83c)
Love On My Terms; MR CEO‘s WIFE
After being betrayed and discarded despite sacrificing a kidney for an unappreciative lover, Varya finds herself torn between her mother's medical bills and the wreckage of her failed relationship. Determined to prioritize her well-being, she shuns the idea of love altogether. However, when billiona
/0/17464/coverbig.jpg?v=5089dd5d43b980fa6199352d6853dacd)
/1/122081/coverbig.jpg?v=d2e5349c9efb4ee704393708d5d66a3e)
Mistaken Night With My Paper Husband
I was the adopted daughter of the Galloway family, bound by a four-year paper marriage to a sickly heir just to secure their wealth. To ensure I fulfilled my "duty," my adoptive father drugged my champagne and sent me to a hotel room. But I stumbled into the wrong presidential suite and woke up in
/0/14574/coverbig.jpg?v=1f8f9bc45749d25704cecdcc7700cbe2)
On Horseback
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preservin
/0/14576/coverbig.jpg?v=7c1861379ec0e3acde6001405dac31ae)
/0/1154/coverbig.jpg?v=20171120181718)
On Liberty
THE subject of this Essay is not the so-called Liberty of the Will, so unfortunately opposed to the misnamed doctrine of Philosophical Necessity; but Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.
/0/1440/coverbig.jpg?v=20171123180133)
On Horsemanship
Claiming to have attained some proficiency in horsemanship1 ourselves, as the result of long experience in the field, our wish is to explain, for the benefit of our younger friends, what we conceive to be the most correct method of dealing with horses.
