Chapter 1

The good news was that Katherine Landon’s blind date was exactly the kind of man women dreamed about.

The bad news was, she didn’t realize he was her blind date. So right in front of him, she scrolled through more than a dozen videos of guys showing off their abs.

Whenever she found a good one, she even shared it with her friend and sent a voice message.

“This one is hot.”

The handsome man beside her glanced at her.

Ten minutes later, after watching her look at shirtless men for almost fifteen minutes, the gorgeous man suddenly spoke.

“Hello. I’m your blind date.”

Only then did Katherine look up and take a proper look at him.

The moment she saw his face clearly, she froze.

Katherine had already heard about his background. He had earned both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in clinical medicine from Adams University and was now working at Riverton General Hospital. His father owned a business, and his mother was a teacher. On paper, he was exactly the kind of impressive man every matchmaker loved to brag about.

But she hadn’t expected him to be Mark Winter, the former campus heartthrob of Adams University.

He was handsome. Not in a flashy way, but with the clean, polished look of an elite professional.

Katherine suddenly remembered that she still had a photo of his abs saved on her phone. Her cheeks warmed. She quickly put her phone away and said, “Sorry. I didn’t realize you’d arrived.”

Mark smiled. “It’s easy to focus when you’re looking at something interesting.”

He was teasing her about the abs videos.

Katherine’s face burned even hotter.

Her public image had always been that of a sweet, innocent girl. Gentle, well-behaved, and harmless. Now that image seemed to be crumbling right in front of him.

“I’m Katherine Landon.” She forced herself to calm down and pretended none of that had happened.

“Mark Winter,” he replied simply.

“I didn’t think someone like you would need to go on blind dates,” Katherine said, genuinely confused.

He was from Riverton, came from a well-off family, and had the kind of face that made people look twice. Around here, he was about as eligible as a man could get.

“My family’s been pushing me,” he said with a faint, helpless smile.

For some reason, Katherine felt that even though he was smiling, there was a distance to him. He seemed polite on the surface, but underneath, he had the cool detachment of someone who didn’t let people get close.

It didn’t take long for her to realize Mark wasn’t interested in her.

When a man was interested, he would ask about her job, her family, her hobbies. He asked none of that. He only made light conversation about work.

That meant he wasn’t interested.

Sure enough, a little while later, Mark glanced at his watch and said, “I have surgery this afternoon. Shall we call it here for today?”

“Sure.” Katherine had work too.

He paid the bill, but he didn’t ask for her number. Clearly, he had no intention of seeing her again.

When he left, Katherine saw that his everyday car was a BMW 5 Series, the kind she would have to save for years to afford.

Katherine was a small-town girl who had studied her way into a better life. Her job was ordinary too. She had never dreamed of marrying up.

Local elite men usually preferred women from families like their own. They didn’t look twice at ordinary girls.

Besides, Mark Winter had that face.

The kind of face women couldn’t help chasing.

—

Two weeks later, Katherine ran into Mark again while entertaining clients in Harbor City.

There was a woman with him. Katherine recognized her. It was her boss’s daughter, Ava Pansworth, the heiress of Pansworth Group.

A feeling settled in Katherine’s chest.

They were probably on a blind date too.

For a moment, she felt painfully out of place. She honestly had no idea how the matchmaker had the nerve to introduce someone like her, a tired office worker grinding away for a paycheck, to a man like Mark Winter.

In terms of family background and career prospects, they were clearly from two different worlds.

Mark noticed her too. He gave her a distant but polite nod.

Katherine returned a proper smile, then went into the private room where her client was waiting.

The meeting that night did not go well.

Mr. Leedon was a divorced middle-aged client who kept making inappropriate jokes with a smug little smile. At first, Katherine pretended not to understand and forced herself to put up with it.

The problem was, she had drunk too much.

After dinner, when they reached the entrance, the man offered to take her home.

Katherine finally snapped.

“You’re almost fifty,” she said. “Whatever you’re thinking about, it probably wouldn’t last more than two or three minutes anyway. Can’t you just wait it out?”

Mr. Leedon’s face darkened instantly.

Mark had just seen Ava into her car and happened to witness the whole thing. His brow lifted slightly.

After their blind date, he had barely thought about Katherine. She was pretty, but her family background was too ordinary, and her personality had seemed shy. Women like that had never been part of his plans.

He had no intention of getting involved.

But the man was clearly embarrassed and angry. He looked like he might try something. There were security cameras around, and if Mark came across as too cold and indifferent, it could hurt his family’s reputation if word got out.

So he walked over and stepped in beside Katherine.

Mark was tall, with the restrained, polished air of someone born into privilege. The man immediately backed down, though he still tried to sound tough.

“Who are you?”

Katherine was dizzy, her head swimming. She knew men like this had no respect for women. They only respected the men standing behind them.

So she answered quickly, “My husband.”

Mark paused for a second, but he did not expose her.

She was so lightheaded that she stumbled. He reached out to steady her, and when his hand settled at her waist, Katherine went rigid as if a current had run through her.

Mark noticed her reaction and glanced at her without a word.

“I’ll take you home,” he said, lowering his eyes to her.

He did not look at the man again.

Mark had been drinking too, so he could not drive. He raised a hand and hailed a cab.

The night wind was strong. It cleared Katherine’s foggy mind just enough to blur reality in a different way. Under the shifting glow of the streetlights, she mistook Mark for her ex-boyfriend, Calvin Winter.

She had never understood why Calvin had left without a word.

Mark only saw her looking at him with wet, shining eyes, like a small puppy that had been abandoned. Pure. Soft. Heartbreakingly innocent.

Then that innocent puppy leaned in, hugged him, and kissed him gently.

Carefully.

Tenderly.

As if he were the most precious thing she had ever held.

Mark’s brow lifted slightly. He did not take the lead, but he clearly did not reject her either.

A moment later, whether intentionally or not, he parted his lips a little, and Katherine deepened the kiss.

Just then, his phone rang.

It was Ava, the woman he had just met for his blind date.

The interruption made Katherine hesitate, and she started to pull away. Mark hung up with one hand and held the back of her head with the other, drawing her back into the kiss.

Once a man like him took control, it was no longer just a simple kiss.

What happened next felt inevitable.

Mark did not just walk her to her door.

He stayed.

Under the dim light, Katherine looked up at him with bright, misty eyes, still carrying a trace of hurt.

“I thought you didn’t like me at all,” she whispered.

Otherwise, why had he kept his distance? Why had he left on his own without a word?

Mark was too caught up in the moment to answer properly.

“Can you call me baby?” she asked, only able to reach his chin. She kissed him there, soft and clingy, like a puppy asking to be loved.

So she was the type who liked to be spoiled.

“You’re a puppy,” he said casually.

A Samoyed, maybe.

“Then you’re baby,” Katherine said. “You’re my precious baby. I’m going to marry you, bring you home, hide you away, and make you so crazy about me that you’ll never want to leave. I’m going to be your rich wife.”

Mark’s mouth curved faintly.

“And how exactly are you going to make me crazy about you?” he asked. “Teach me.”

As for the rest of it, he did not take it seriously.

They were both willing adults. That did not mean marriage had to be involved.

Then Katherine leaned close and murmured something in his ear.

Mark let out a low laugh. His restraint slipped, and the night grew hotter around them.

The heat of it seemed to melt straight through the night.