Tantalizing Tilly

Tilly Moor was pleased with her efforts so far. She was pretty sure the target had no idea she was trailing him. But then, he shouldn’t. She had been doing this job for many years now and she believed she was damn good at what she did. Hiding in plain sight was an art. Tilly dipped her sunglasses down her nose and watched him as he turned down Eighth Avenue.
“Yep, that’s where I thought he would go,” she muttered to herself as she waited a moment before following. She did not want to follow him but she had no other choice. Tilly had a problem to sort out and she was not one to shy away from unpleasant things. As she put one of her Doc Marten boot-shod feet down onto the metal grate set in the pavement, she felt it tilt dangerously beneath her. She looked down in horror.
“Oh shit!” Tilly yelped in panic when it gave way completely beneath her. She plummeted helplessly downward, knowing the landing was going to be painful and yet there was no way she could stop it happening or prepare herself for the fall. She closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
The best was she landed in the outstretched arms of a man. The worst, she had no idea who he was or what he was doing standing in an underground sewer tunnel in the middle of Brisbane city. Even in her less than sane world, that was not normal.
“Hi,” said the tall, blond man. He grinned at her widely.
“Hi?” Tilly struggled in his arms as she tried to free herself. “Who the fuck are you?” She turned her head and glared at him as she tried to break the hold he had on her. The arms that held her were like steel.
“I was just passing by,” he murmured pleasantly as he held her against his chest. And what a chest it was. Tilly could feel the rock-hard pecs against the side of her breast. She was disgusted to find herself getting all girly and giddy at the firm, warm flesh pressed against hers. Get a grip, woman. He’s a weirdo standing in a sewer.
“And you just happened to be standing in an underground sewer?” She slapped at the arms that held her tight. “Let me go.” It was weird being suspended in the air like this. Tilly had no control at all and she didn’t like it one bit. Added to that she was amazed he was holding her not inconsequential weight without any effort at all. She had heard that crazy people did sometimes have supernatural strength. I always attract the nutcases. Why me?
“I saw you falling.”
“So you immediately stretched out your arms to catch me?” She looked in the vivid blue eyes and saw amusement. How dare he be amused by this?
“Lucky huh?”
“Bullshit.” She smacked his chest and wriggled to free herself. “Put me down.” “I like holding you.”
The way he said it in a deep, husky voice made Tilly suddenly hot all over.
“Put me down before I poke you in the eyes.” She held her fingers up threateningly. The man shrugged and gently placed her feet on the ground.
“As you wish, cariad.” He set her down carefully but kept his hands on her shoulders
Cariad? Tilly looked up at him. Whoa. He was much taller than the average man and he appeared to be solid muscle under the black knit t-shirt and well-faded jeans. His dark blond hair could be best described as shaggy but neat and the plain polished metal stud in his ear gave him a rakish look of battered elegance. He smiled at her as if amused by her perusal. It was an awfully nice smile and a delicious-looking mouth. It had the full bottom lip that she found sexy in a man—if she was interested and she wasn’t. Tilly dragged her eyes from him and looked around for a way out. Be proactive and find a solution and not reactive and panting at the hot guy. The hot guy in question suddenly pulled Tilly to him.
“Hey, back off, mate,” Tilly snapped in anger and shock. The shock was due to the fact that the heat from the body plastered tightly against hers was seeping into Tilly’s senses and her sex-starved hormones were going crazy with delight. She pushed her hands against his chest in an effort to stop feeling stuff she did not want to feel.
“Shh,” he dropped his head and whispered again her ear.
Oh boy. The hot breath skittered teasingly over her skin. Tilly felt an instant tightening response between her legs.
“Um, w-what?” She stammered, trying to gather herself. Tilly could not remember the last time she’d had such a reaction to anyone.
“He’s coming back.” The man looked into her eyes knowingly.
“He?” Who was this holding her and what did he know? She leaned back from him and looked at his mouth when she knew she should be looking at his eyes. Tilly could feel every solid inch of him and then some. She knew if it had been anyone else she would have kneed him in the groin or ground her heel down into his foot, but for the life of her she could do neither. “You don’t have to hold me so close.”
“But you feel so good, cariad.”