She gripped his head, sinking her fingers into his hair and holding on as if her life depended on it. Maybe it did. If Piers didn’t make love to her right now, she would implode. She was sure of it.

“Wait,” she gasped.

He drew back without question. Voice thick with desire, he asked, “What is it?” He scanned the room for danger.

“Nothing bad,” Sophie said. “I’ve got protection.” She always carried a few condoms in her purse and made sure they weren’t expired. It had seemed like a pretty useless precaution until several incredibly hot minutes ago. “I’m sure you have ways of preventing pregnancy in Thalyria. This is our method.” She leaned over the side of the bed and fished around in her handbag for a little foil package. She finally found one, tore it open, and reached for him.

Piers sucked in a breath when she touched him. His big shaft pulsed in her hand. An answering throb thumped deep in Sophie’s belly. She stroked him, the condom in her other hand, watching his gray eyes drift closed and his jaw tighten. She smiled, feeling sexy and powerful as his throat moved on a hard swallow. Piers made her feel like a goddess in the bedroom. It changed everything.

She stroked him harder and licked his lower lip, coaxing him to open his mouth for her. The moment he did, she kissed him fiercely. Possessively. She’d never felt anything but awkward and bored during intimacy. This was so far from awkward and boring that she knew she could never go back. It was this man or nothing.

Piers’s breathing turned sharp and uneven. “Sophronia mou.” That, she understood. My Sophronia. Oh, yes—she was his and then some.

She fumbled with the condom.

Piers took it from her unsteady hands. He covered himself, understanding everything that needed understanding, including that she was no expert at putting it on him. “A sheath but different. Like a second skin.”

“That’s the idea,” she murmured.

He gave himself a long, slow stroke, his arm and shoulder muscles rippling. Heat washed through her, and the raw, needy sound that poured from her throat could’ve come from a porn star.

Piers clasped the back of her head and drew her in for a kiss that branded her soul. Desperate to feel him inside her, Sophie nudged him onto his back and straddled him. She didn’t want any weight on his shoulder. She kissed his rock-solid chest and worked her way up to his mouth again. His sounds of desire came hard against her lips. He gripped her hips and kissed her back, sometimes gently and sometimes like he wanted to eat her alive. It was incredible.