Kiss of the Basilisk (Split or Swallow, #1)

by Lindsay Straube

Say goodbye to the person you were before this book. And once you’ve read it, hand it to your friend so they can read it too.

He’d seen dozens of girls before her and would see hundreds after. This was a duty for him—nothing more. For Tem, it was everything.

“There’s no need to be rude,” she hissed. “I know there’s no need. I’m rude because I want to be.”

“You are not meant to be tamed, Tem.”

“I just can’t picture you on a farm.” His eyes went to her breasts. They’d been going there all night, but now they lingered. “Surprising,” Tem shot back, “considering you act like a pig.”

In the silence, Tem allowed herself to truly see Leo. He was breathing hard, just like she was. His hair was a mess of chaotic spikes, and his lipstick-smeared shirt was surely ruined. He looked perfectly, incandescently human.

“Temptation, salvation, heaven, hell—you are everything, Tem. You are my undoing. You are beyond comprehension. There are no sufficient words to describe you, either in my language or yours.” His hands moved to her face, cupping her jaw. “My compass points to you. I could not change direction even if I wanted to.”

“I am undone by you,” he said. “I crave your scent, your skin, your voice. I think about you all the time, to the point of destruction. You are unbearably overwhelming. I cannot resist you no matter how hard I try.”

“I proposed to you because a life without you is not a life I care to live.”

He licked her willingly, deliciously, the way every girl wanted to be licked—like she was the ultimate prize and the man between her legs was so lucky to have won her.

“I’m afraid I wasn’t what you deserved.” “You didn’t need to be anything for me,” Tem said. “No, I didn’t, did I? You already had everything you needed.”