Free Falling for Mr Wrong by Joanne Dannon Page A

confined space, his strong arms holding her close and the sticky warmth gluing them together. It did not take long for her jumbled thoughts to venture to more intimate ones, revolving around hot, sweaty, naked bodies.
    How could she remain detached when his generosity knew no-bounds?
    “Are you okay?” He touched her arm with a gentle press of his fingers.
    “Fine,” she lied. Keeping her eyes fixed on the outside view meant her eyes could not steal another glance of sculpted male body. His lean muscles and flat stomach looked as if they had been poured into his dark jeans and fitted black tee.
    How dare he look so delectable?
    “We need to work on our story. How we met.”
    Tilly risked a quick look and wished she hadn’t. Flutters in her tummy reminded her she was now ‘engaged’ to Mr. Gorgeous seated next to her. “They’re not going to believe us.” Her voice lifted an octave.
    “As long as we keep to the story, we’ll be fine.”
    His assurances did little to quell the butterflies performing an Israeli hora dance in her tummy. “What about your sister? My family?”
    “I’ll speak to Bea,” he reassured, with a quick pat on her knee.
    Silence settled between them. Her palms grew damp. “No one is going to believe we’re engaged. It’s all come out of the blue.”
    Nate took her hand into his. “We’ll convince them.”
    The body warmth seeped into her fingers making her insides turn gooey. She shook her head but did not remove her hand from his soothing hold. “I can’t. I’m not an actress.”
    She bit her tongue to avoid blurting out how delighted her family would be when they would hear about it. Surprised, yes. Excited, definitely. A man like Nate to care for their daughter and sister? She could already hear the champagne corks popping from Australia. But it was all a lie. Yet another one to add to the list.
    It was for the greater good and it would work itself out, however, all too soon, she and Nate would part. She would return to being on her own and nursing an all to-real broken heart.
    In the short time since they met, Tilly felt an affinity for Nate. A connection she assumed was love. And what of Nate’s consideration for her? Hadn’t that been the cherry on the pie? The icing on the cake? All those metaphors and more. She had never had that with Travis.
    Shaking her head, she said,“you’re well known in London and I’m an ordinary girl from a country town in Australia. You’re kidding yourself if you think the press will accept our fake engagement.”
    “We’ll make them. We’ll do it together.”
    Her gut coiled. Together . Not facing the reporters alone had her neck muscles relaxing in relief. “You make it sound so easy.”
    He looked puzzled by her admission. “You’re making it to be harder than it is. When the press ask questions, I’ll answer and you smile.”
    She raised her eyebrow. “Like a monkey?”
    A slight frown creased his brow. “Fine, I’ll smile and you talk.”
    Her stomach turned itself inside out at the thought of dealing with the barrage of questions. “No thanks, I’ll do the smiling.”
    He gave her a slow, sexy smile that had her heart race. “See? We’re a brilliant team already.”
    “Great!” She forced enthusiasm into her voice. After this performance, she would deserve an Academy Award.
     
    With a rapid determination that would have impressed James Bond, Tilly and Nate were soon driving to Jerusalem in a hired car.
    “I can’t believe you packed, checked-out and organised transport in half an hour.”
    “Actually, Ilan organised the car for me before returning to work.”
    “It was very nice of him to help us out.” She made a mental note to write a thank you card to Ilan, at a later stage.
    “It was.” He gave her a warm smile. “Anyway, I had a chat with Bea.”
    Hearing Bea’s name had Tilly’s nerves in twisted knots as her heart collided with her ribs. “Wh-what did she say?”
    “I told her we were heading for a