At Cascadia Reptile Research Institute, Noah Hayes is assigned to Avery, the largest and most bad-tempered white python in the facility. Avery refuses food, scares away every snake Noah cares for, bites only him, and keeps wrapping around him like a jealous lover. Noah thinks the snake hates him, until a breeding-season check reveals the ridiculous truth: Avery has been courting him all along. When Avery starts leaving “gifts,” guarding him from other snakes, and appearing in Noah’s dreams as a beautiful silver-haired man, Noah realizes his troublesome white snake may want far more than care. He wants Noah.