Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
Tem closed her eyes.
She couldn’t deny that she was drawn to Leo. But she also couldn’t deny the look she’d seen in his eyes when he told her about Evelyn. He loved her-still loved her-the type of love that didn’t fade easily, if it ever did. Tem didn’t want to kiss someone who loved someone else. He was not the same man who had walked into the Horseman. This man had a past. A past that could have a profound effect on their future.
Tem opened her eyes. “Not tonight.”
To her surprise, Leo smiled.
“Is something funny?”
“No,” he said simply.
They stared at each other in the darkness. Despite the autumn evening, the kitchen was warm, and Tem felt agitated. Why was it that immediately after she’d turned down a kiss from the prince, suddenly it was all she wanted to do? She had to break the moment.
“I’m going to sleep.”
Leo ran a single finger around the rim of his glass. “Very well. Good night, Tem.”
There was a pause, and Tem almost didn’t want to leave. But she was exhausted. She needed time to process what had just happened between them, and she didn’t trust herself to make any more decisions tonight.
Tem was just pulling her bedroom door shut when suddenly she was met with resistance. With a jolt, she realized Leo was holding the door from the other side. She let go of the handle slowly, watching as he pulled it open, leaving a six-inch gap between them. For a moment, Tem thought he might step through. But he didn’t. Instead, he said quietly, “In case you change your mind.”
Then he turned away.
In case she changed her mind?
Could Leo tell somehow that Tem had been on the verge of changing her mind already? He seemed to be inside her head nearly as often as Caspen was. At the thought of Caspen, Tem crossed to her bedside dresser. With a glance back at the open door to make sure Leo couldn’t see her, she stripped down to her underclothing, reached between her legs, and removed the claw. She didn’t know why she did it. Something was guiding her tonight that she couldn’t explain; something was drawing her to Leo in a way she’d never been drawn before. Tem studied the smooth curve, stroking it with her thumb.
A moment later, her hand was empty.
She stared at her palm in shock. The claw was gone-disappeared as if it were never there in the first place. It had happened only once before-at Tem’s request, before the Frisky Sixty. Did Caspen know what she was thinking about doing with Leo? She felt for him with her mind, but the door between them was firmly shut. Tem flexed her fingers in disbelief. There was no point in dwelling on it any longer.
Instead, Tem climbed into bed and fell asleep immediately. But she awoke just hours later, and no matter what she did, sleep wouldn’t return. She tossed and turned violently, trying not to stare at the open door.
But she couldn’t ignore it.
She thought about how she had taken Leo in tonight. He was right; it was her choice. And she had made it readily, without outside influence, simply because she’d wanted to. She thought about Caspen, whose voice was painfully absent from her mind. He was always the one drawing the line between them. It was always Caspen who decided when and how their relationship would progress. Now Tem was the one drawing the line with Leo-keeping distance between them, policing his behavior and holding him at arm’s length.
Now the person setting boundaries was her.
And why exactly was she so against the human prince? What was it about Leo that Tem found so abhorrent? Was there really anything wrong with him, or was it just that Maximus was his father-something over which he had no control, something he himself had expressed disgust over? Should a son suffer for the sins of his father? Maximus judged Tem constantly, with no justification or remorse. Was she really going to do the same to Leo?
Leo had never lied to her. He’d defended her in front of his father-more than once-at great personal cost. She’d never taken his constant advances seriously, but now Tem wondered whether that was just because she’d gotten so used to the polar opposite from Caspen. Was she only interested in affection when it was being withheld from her? Leo had proven time and time again that he wanted her, even when she didn’t believe him. Leo, whose opinion of her was informed by her actions, yet her opinion of him was formed by her own prejudice. Leo, whose only sin was his lineage. Leo, who despite the fact that girls were throwing themselves at him left and right had only pursued Tem. Why should she deprive herself of what she knew they both wanted? Leo was right. Caspen never had to know.
Tem got out of bed.
She crossed to the door, which was still cracked open. As if in a dream, she walked through it. Leo was still at the table, fast asleep, his head tilted back against the wall. His sharp cheekbones were softer in the dark, his thick blond hair mussed in the back. She stared at his exposed neck, his prominent Adam’s apple. He was completely defenseless. For some reason, seeing him like that confirmed Tem’s decision.
She touched his shoulder.
At the contact, Leo’s eyes flew open. He looked up at her calmly, as if he knew what she was about to say.
Tem said it anyway. “I changed my mind.”
There was absolute silence as they stared at each other.
For some reason, Tem felt perfectly at ease. From the look on Leo’s face, he did too. His mouth turned up at the corner as he stood slowly, his eyes never leaving hers.
Leo whispered, “What are we about to do, Tem?”
Her mind was already blank, her arms wrapping around him. “Whatever we want,” she whispered back.
Then she kissed him.
It wasn’t their first kiss, yet somehow it was new. Somehow, this time, it felt as if they were on equal footing-like Tem’s cottage was far away from everything that had been weighing on them, like they both knew they were safe with the other here. They kissed slowly, neither of them in a rush, neither of them giving in to necessity just yet.
Tem tugged on Leo’s shirt. “Take this off,” she said.
He laughed softly. “If you insist.”
She watched as he took it off. Leo’s torso was angular and lean, so different from the brutal muscles on Caspen. There was a tiny scar under his chin, and she touched it tentatively.
“What’s that from?” she asked.
“Carriage accident.”
Tem giggled.
“Is that funny?” he murmured.
His hands were moving too, skimming down the curves of her hips.
“Only rich people have scars from carriage accidents.”
“I am a rich person, Tem.”
“Don’t remind me. It’s one of your more abysmal qualities.”
Leo laughed.
Then he dipped down, grabbed the backs of her thighs, and picked her up. Tem completed the motion, wrapping her legs around his waist as he carried her to the bedroom. When they fell onto her bed, Tem understood exactly how much Leo wanted her. His hands were all over her body-greedy and insistent-yanking her underclothing off with unapologetic urgency. Tem lost herself in his grip, savoring the way he wanted her-needed her-and the way she wanted him in return. The moment they were both naked, they gasped together as skin met skin for the first time. Tem’s hand slid between Leo’s legs just as his hand slid between hers, and she let out a yelp as he pinched her clitoris.
“Leo.”
She saw his smirk even in the dark.
“Tem.” His voice was a barely restrained growl. “Don’t expect me to be gentle when you’ve made me wait this long.”
Tem decided not to make him wait any longer. She wrapped her fingers around his cock-the second cock she’d ever felt-and began to stroke.
Leo sucked a tight breath between his teeth.
“Fuck, Tem.”
Tem smiled.
Leo’s cock was the perfect extension of him-long and proud and regal, yet another embodiment of his unchecked ego. Tem understood why he conducted himself the way he did, why he felt the need to answer to no one, why he moved through the world with such careless arrogance. She felt an undeniable surge of power with her fingers wrapped around his shaft. It was a privilege Tem couldn’t have comprehended before this very moment and one she didn’t intend on wasting.
“Do you like that?” she whispered.
In response, Leo slipped his fingers inside her.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.