His words in her ear sent a shiver down her spine, like his hands on her back had done earlier on the beach, like that morning back in Rome when he went in search of her tracker and she blamed her trembling on fear. She did not respond to him with words, but instead let her head fall back to give his mouth better access to the skin of her neck. It was apparent where they were headed, but Gaby had no intention of stopping him. From her perspective, here, with Illya's firm body between her thighs, she could no sooner stop what was about to happen than she could the waves that had crashed over their ankles on the beach.
There was a very small part of her that worried that this could be a mistake. That there was a possibility that Illya was not in love with her, but merely the thought of her. That once he had her, he would have no more use for such feelings. The greater part of her that trusted him implicitly overwhelmed this nagging doubt, but it was still there in a tiny corner of her mind, throbbing occasionally like a dull ache. Yet she did not hesitate. Righting her head again, she reached up to loosen the knot of his tie, remove it completely, and let it fall to the floor at his feet.