Love at First Novel by Gu Lingfei

Kathryn looked up at Pedro. "I want to touch your face," she said.

Pedro's expression was tense, his features hardened with anger. But after a moment, he leaned down, letting her reach him easily.

She ran her fingers across his face. "Your face is as hard as marble. So handsome, yet so rigid. I don't like seeing you like this. I prefer when you're gentle, like jade."

Pedro's voice was low and firm. "Miss, I'm not gentle like jade."

Years of brutal training at the base had shaped him into a hardened soldier. Gentleness was not in his nature.

Yet, when he was in a good mood, his sharp edges softened.

To her, he was always handsome, always polite. To her, he was gentle like jade.

And as she spoke, the tension in his face eased.

nothing more. They were first-time killers, inexperienced

mischievously. "Of course, I

her brothers had never killed anyone

Neither had she.

gaze turned icy. "They actually planned to chop you up and feed you to the fish!" His voice was cold and sharp. "If it weren't for you insisting on sparing them, I

make sure those three brothers

gave him a

let's put this behind us. My plan worked perfectly. I won't worry about

exhaled slowly. "I have my own company. I want to move out of Jensburg. Aside from visiting my mother's

freezing. Last night, I thought 'd die from the cold. When I was little, no one bought me warm clothes. I had to wear secondhand rags, and I nearly froze to death every winter. I survived over twenty brutal

a child, her adoptive mother forced her to wash the

to haul water from the well to scrub the

was ice-cold, stabbing her hands with pain every time she dipped them