“I knew I meant nothing to you!” Rachel screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “After all, our marriage is nothing but a contract. It’s meaningless to you!” Noah stepped forward, trying to hold her, his voice lower but tight. “Rachel, it's not what you think. Please listen to me...don’t—” She pulled away, shaking her head. “Don’t touch me! You bought me with your money. You don’t get to act like you care now.” His eyes flickered—anger? Guilt? Regret? She couldn’t tell. But none of it mattered anymore. She didn't care! If only she had known... . . . A desperate woman. A heartless contract. A love she never meant to lose. When Rachel agrees to a cold, emotionless marriage to save her father’s life, she believes she can keep her heart out of it. But when the man she truly loved returns, demanding answers, the carefully built lie begins to crack. Caught between a possessive husband who sees her as a business deal and a man who once saw her as everything, Rachel is forced to ask herself: Can survival ever come without sacrifice? And can a contract kill a heart that still wants to love? A story filled with betrayal, slow-burning passion, heartbreak, and the tangled threads of loyalty and desire, you won't see the ending coming.

So he was going to do it, but first… He wrapped his arms around her waist and exhaled heavily, feeling the warmth of her skin. He was getting turned on even more. “Tell me, Bethany, what's my name and what is happening right now?” He asked her as soon as his head rested against her forehead. Bethany chuckled softly, knowing that he was being extra careful, and she found that cute. “I am asking you, Carter, whom I know, to have sex with me, and I am not drunk. I am asking you to give it to me raw and fuck me till dawn…fuck me till I lose my senses, fuck me raw, fuck me till I can no longer walk and fuck me till I can no more remember that I once had anything to do with a loser.” That was the only thing that he needed to hear, and his demons were instantly unleashed. —------------------------------------------------- Bethany Cole did not plan to show up to a blind date dressed like a budget ninja. But desperate times call for ridiculous disguises, especially when her mum was matchmaking, like her life depended on it. Bethany expected a random stranger, but what she got instead was Carter Hayes, her ex-boyfriend’s boss — the man she ghosted after one unforgettable night four years ago. And Carter? He was not amused & he decided to play along. It was supposed to be a harmless arrangement. No feelings. No drama. Just two people dodging blind dates and pretending not to date. But between nosy relatives, late-night confrontations, and a past that refuses to stay buried, Bethany’s life was unraveling fast. And Carter? He might just be the only man she refuses to play pretend with. But how real are they both willing to get?