Her eyes widened. “You didn’t figure out the boxers, did you?”
Piers ignored that, too, and leaned back over her, kissing her from jaw to collarbone to the top of her lacey bra. Sophie’s breath shuddered. Nuzzling her chest, he dipped his finger under the material, exploring deeper with every stroke. He finally brushed her nipple, and she gasped, heat simmering between her legs.
Piers seemed fascinated by the little details of her lingerie, but Sophie grew impatient when he didn’t finish undressing her. She unhooked her bra and tugged off her panties herself. She’d never been so bold or wanton in her life, but with Piers, going full steam ahead not only felt natural; it feltnecessary.
“I need you,” she whispered, arching into his touch.
Roughly, Piers said something in a language that resembled Greek as he smoothed his hand down her body. He stroked and explored as if he had all the time in the world when Sophie had never been so desperate to move faster. She pressed against him, twisting and straining. She needed contact. She needed friction. After breath-stealing minutes of driving her to the brink of insanity, he finally slid his fingers toward her throbbing center.
“Yes.” She nearly sobbed in relief at his first light stroke through her hot, aching slickness. “More. There.”
Her senses exploded as he touched her. They were just getting started, and this was already the most aroused she’d ever been. Sensation raced like liquid fire beneath her skin. Piers pressed on just the right spot, and it was like hitting a reset button. She moaned in pleasure. Her sex life started now, she decided—with Piers. She grinned at the idea.
“Is my lovemaking funny?” he growled against her neck. His deep voice resonated inside her. “Do they do it differently in Attica?”
“Are you kidding?” she panted. Piers was acing this. “I think they do it wrong here. Don’t stop. I love it.”
He paused, maybe surprised by her candor. Then he started working the little bead of her clitoris that evenshehad trouble finding. Sophie nearly flew off the bed, which might’ve been funny if she hadn’t been so intensely absorbed in chasing what was sure to be the best orgasm of her life. Piers slid his mouth over her breast and sucked on her nipple. His tongue lashed the tip, and she let out a sharp breath, tension peaking inside her.
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.
Slowly, she rose up and then sank down on him. Fully joined, she could feel every inch of him inside her, and for one breathless second, they both went still, savoring the sensation. Then she started moving.
Piers slowly exhaled. His eyes grew heavy-lidded. He watched her from under a gleaming, pleasure-hooded gaze, touching her breasts as she slid on him. He tugged on her nipples, lightly at first and then with a hint of roughness that brought Sophie to the brink of orgasm. She held off, keeping the hot pulse from exploding inside her too quickly. Piers took over rocking her. He threw his head back, eyes closed, lips parted, chest rising and falling. The fire-bright pressure mounted. His grip tightened, and he pulled her hard against him. Sophie gasped. She clenched all over, and release pounded through her. Piers joined her with a groan, his hard throbbing adding to her pleasure.
“Wow,” she murmured. Breathing as if she’d just run a marathon, Sophie sank down against his chest and nestled her forehead into his neck, careful of his shoulder. She kept making little noises she couldn’t seem to control and didn’t want to. She couldn’t stop kissing him. Chest. Neck. Jaw. Mouth. Piers wrapped his arms around her.
“Sophronia mou.” He sighed her name this time, a low, satisfied rumble.
She smiled. She didn’t mind when Piers used her full name, and the way he rolled thermade her shiver.
They stayed all tangled up in each other for a long time, the room dark except for the city light streaming in through the window and the eerie blue glow of the Shard of Olympus. Piers’s stomach eventually growled.
“I’ll order room service.” Sophie tried to motivate her muscles to move. They felt like jelly.
“Meat,” Piers said.
