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

by Lindsay Straube

I could eat you alive. “I could let you.”

I would give you anything you asked for, Tem.

“Imagine all you want,” she said. “I’m not taking off this dress.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “Yet,” he whispered.

Mine. Only mine. Tem nodded eagerly. Yours. Only yours.

“Some part of me enjoys hurting you.”

“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 think about you all the time, to the point of destruction.

“I will not survive you,” he said, his voice a guttural whisper. “Do you even want to?”