The Stranger I Married
She planned her life. She didn’t plan him.
Sophia Cole wakes up in a hotel room in Vegas with a hangover, a blank memory… and a marriage certificate tying her to a stranger.
Julian Hale is everything she doesn’t want — cold, arrogant, and too dangerously attractive for his own good. She doesn't remember marrying him. He says it was her idea.
Now, they're stuck in a legal mess neither of them can escape — at least not right away. To avoid a scandal and fix the situation quietly, they’re forced to live together. Just for a while.
But the more time they spend under the same roof, the more complicated things get.
Their arguments are fiery. The tension between them is unbearable. And every time they get too close, something inside Sophia pulls her toward him — something she’s afraid to name.
She already had a life planned. A fiancé. A future.
But Julian makes her feel alive in ways she’s never felt before.
And Julian? He’s sworn never to fall again. But this woman — this stubborn, messy, beautiful woman — is slowly breaking down every wall he’s built.
They both want out of this marriage.
So why does it feel like falling in love?
Excerpt~
Julian’s jaw flexed. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
She swallowed, turning away. “It doesn’t matter.”
But he was already crossing the space between them, slow and certain. The heat of his body touched her back before his hand did. He didn’t grab. He didn’t pull.
He just placed his palm flat against her waist. Firm. Warm.
“Sophia…” His voice was low. Rough.
She couldn’t breathe.
Her eyes shut, lashes fluttering. “Don’t.”
“Then tell me to stop.”
He slid closer, his chest brushing her back, his breath hot against her neck.
“Say it,” he murmured, fingers skimming the edge of her shirt, slipping under to touch bare skin. “Tell me to walk away. Tell me you don’t want this.”
She shook her head, but it wasn’t a no. It was helpless.
He turned her slowly, and she didn’t fight it. Her hands found his chest, pushing slightly — but her fingers curled into his shirt instead of letting go.
His mouth hovered near hers. “You drive me crazy.”
“Julian—”
“Tell me to stop.”
She opened her mouth, but no words came.
And then his lips were on hers.
It wasn’t soft. It was wild. Desperate. Like something that had been caged too long finally breaking loose.
He kissed her like he was starving, like she was the only thing that had ever mattered. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her into him, her body melting against his as if she’d been aching for this too…..