"T-take it off?"
"Yes."
Ilaria froze, caught between relief and the vertigo of exposure. He looked serious enough to make the world narrow around her; to make the air itself tremble. She curled her toes, trying to fold herself beneath the nightgown like a small, fragile bloom retreating from the sun.
But he held her ankle with quiet insistence, the touch cold and certain, anchoring her in place.
"I-I don't think that's necessary..." she whispered, voice fluttering.
"Why?"
"W-why?" Her cheeks burned like lanterns in a dark room. "Because...I-I'll be exposed!"
"Exposed to what?"
"You!...It's embarrassing!" She twisted, trying to shield herself, but the air between them seemed to push her back, insistent and intimate. "You'll see...all of me...!"
