Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
Without thinking, Tem’s hand went to his neck. Caspen’s eyes widened at the motion. Then they narrowed, and she heard his voice in her mind:
Squeeze, little viper.
Tem squeezed. She felt the cords of his throat contract beneath her palm, the hard line of his esophagus compressing between her fingers. What would happen if she kept squeezing? Would he let her? She was holding his life in her hand, just as he so often held hers. Tem recognized that this was a moment of trust between them-that she was meant to decide how it ended.
When she released him, he released her too.
They stared at each other for a long time. Caspen was the one to break eye contact, leaning forward and pressing his lips to her jaw. He trailed his kisses downward, gently biting her breast. Tem let out a tiny moan when he did it, and she felt him smile against her skin.
“So sensitive,” Caspen whispered, his fingers brushing over her nipple, coaxing it into an obedient point. “I could make you come just from this.”
Tem scoffed. “I doubt it.”
Caspen’s nostrils flared.
Then he lowered his head, taking her nipple into his mouth and sucking it between his teeth. Tem gasped. She’d never felt anything like that before. Her hand darted immediately to the back of his neck, her fingers lacing tightly into his hair. She needed something to hold on to-something to steady her against the sheer ecstasy he was making her feel.
Tem couldn’t believe what Caspen was doing. He alternated between sucking her nipple and teasing it lightly, working it back and forth with his tongue. Every few minutes, he would stop, using his fingers to soften it before taking it in his mouth once more. He swirled his tongue in continuous, lazy circles, tracing the peak of her breast until Tem was completely wet between her legs. She could feel it dripping onto the mat. She’d never wanted to touch herself as badly as she wanted to right now. But if she did that, Caspen would win.
I will win regardless, his voice reverberated through her mind.
“No talking,” Tem chastised him. She could barely get the words out.
Just when she was used to one motion, he did something different, sliding her nipple first through the ridges of his teeth before flicking it lightly with his tongue. He was teasing her, she realized, taking her to the edge and then back again, bringing her closer and closer each time. But Tem was stubborn. She wouldn’t let him win this. She tried to think of something, anything, to distract her.
Chicken shit. Vera’s insufferable giggle. Mother fussing around the cottage.
It was no use. There weren’t enough distasteful things in the world to combat the euphoria that was spreading through Tem like fire.
Caspen’s mouth completely covered her nipple. This time when he sucked it, he did it for so long and so tightly that she let out a helpless whimper, arching her back and grasping him desperately. As soon as she was sure she couldn’t take another second, he pulled suddenly away.
Tem gasped in surprise.
It was that finally-the absence of sensation-that brought her straight to the edge. Her fingers tightened in his hair, trying to pull him closer, but his head didn’t budge. Instead, Tem watched as Caspen’s tongue closed the distance, gliding over her nipple just once, leaving it glistening in the firelight.
Then he blew on it.
Cool air caressed her gentler than a whisper, and Tem felt the last of her self-control finally break as her nipple immediately became so hard it ached. Her body had betrayed her. She could resist no longer.
Orgasm hit her like a tidal wave, crashing forth from the deepest eddies of her body and pulling her into an endless well of pleasure. She rode the wave gladly, basking in the sweet release, allowing herself to come undone just for him. Without hesitation, Caspen plunged his hand between her legs, and the moment he touched her clitoris, she cried out, bucking her hips to meet him. Caspen matched her energy, fingering her hard, his mouth returning to her nipple so he could play with both parts of her.
It was incredible. There was no other word for it. Tem could barely catch her breath; she felt as if she were seeing stars.
“Caspen,” she gasped.
He raised his head so they were at eye level, his fingers slowing into a gentle caress. “You should not have doubted me.”
She clung to him. It felt like her soul had been cracked open. “I hate that you have this much power over me.”
To her surprise, he laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
His grin only widened. “Of the two of us, I am not the one with the power, Tem.”
Tem had no idea how to react to that. To believe that she had power over Caspen was to believe that she had influence over a centuries-old creature who could turn her to stone with a single glance. It wasn’t a fantasy she could afford to indulge. Yet she knew their relationship had progressed far beyond the bounds of student and teacher. She shouldn’t even be here-the other girls had surely long since gone home, and she was still in her basilisk’s cave, naked, talking to him as if they were lovers. It was impossible. And yet she wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Lucky for you, I’m a merciful ruler.” She touched one of his shoulders and then the other, mimicking the motion for granting knighthood.
He grabbed her wrist, kissing the freckles on the palm of her hand. “Lucky me indeed.”
They ate together that night and every night after. Caspen returned the claw to her and sent pulses constantly-in bed, in church, on the way to the bakery. On one particular day, they came so frequently that Tem had to pretend to be sick, waving her mother away and insisting that she needed to sleep it off. She spent the day naked in bed, soaked in sweat and her own wetness, wondering how the hell Caspen had enough time on his hands to think of her this often.
Tem suspected that his behavior had something to do with the upcoming elimination.
The letter arrived while Tem’s mother was out running errands, so Tem was alone when she received the large white envelope stamped with the wax seal of the royals. Its contents were brief-a simple invitation requesting her presence at the castle the following night. Tem turned it over in her hands, marveling at the thick paper laced with gold leaf.
Then she began to worry.
The prince would base his decision on a kiss.
Tem didn’t know how or when the kiss would happen, but it was traditional for each girl to kiss the prince on the night of the first elimination. Then again, the first elimination had already occurred, so the process clearly wasn’t following the conventional norms. What if she didn’t get the chance to kiss him at all? What if Leo simply eliminated girl after girl without ever touching them?
Her worries followed her to the cave that night, the curved stone walls enveloping her in suffocating warmth. The only light was the fireplace, which glowed behind Caspen, illuminating his outline like a ghost.
The elimination hung over them like a shadow. They both knew what would happen tomorrow, but neither of them spoke of it. Instead, Caspen brought her straight to the mat, undressing her as he kissed her, pressing his mouth against hers as if he could claim it as his own. Tem accepted his tongue willingly, showing him without a question what she wanted.
Eventually, his lips moved to her neck. Then they moved even lower. Caspen kissed slowly down her stomach, pushing her legs apart as he did so. His hands went to her thighs, opening them and pulling them around his shoulders. A sudden wave of panic hit Tem as she realized what Caspen was about to do.
“Stop,” she cried sharply.
He stopped, looking up at her in surprise.
Tem was overreacting-she could tell by the look of confusion on Caspen’s face. She shouldn’t be telling him to stop-it went against their roles. But they were past the point of student and teacher. Now they were lovers, and Tem wanted an equal say. She had never had a man’s mouth between her legs before, and she knew she wasn’t ready to experience the thing Vera had bragged so cruelly about.
Caspen’s hands tightened on her thighs. “What is the matter, Tem?”
She shrugged, unwilling to put it into words.
Caspen sat up slowly, considering her. The firelight flickered on his face, and she saw he was genuinely concerned.
“It will not hurt,” he said. “Quite the opposite.”
“I know,” she whispered. “But it’s the first time for me.”
He tilted his head. “Everything we have done together has been the first time for you. Why is this any different?”
Again, Tem couldn’t put it into words. There was silence as she tried to formulate her thoughts, and Caspen waited patiently for her to do so. Finally, she murmured, “Yes to one thing isn’t yes to the rest.”
“That is true.” He paused, tilting his head in the other direction, clearly trying to understand her outburst. She was still trying to understand it herself. “But have I not earned your trust?”
Tem considered the question. “You have.”
“Then why not let me do this?”
Tem’s chest felt like it was full of rocks.
Who would want a girl who tastes like chicken shit?
“I’m afraid,” she finally admitted.
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.