Read Online Her Perfect Mate by Paige Tyler - Free Book Online Page A

better do some damage control before our next
    round. I might have to depend on Landon to save my ass again.”
    She grabbed her Gatorade and got to her feet, almost smacking into Declan as she turned around. She
    really must be preoccupied if she hadn’t heard him come up behind her. The bear shifter wasn’t exactly
    stealthy. He was, however, one of the sweetest guys she’d ever met.
    Ivy smiled up at him. “Hey.”
    “Hey. I just met your new partner. He seems like a good guy.” Declan turned his baby blue eyes on
    Kendra. “Um…Hi, Kendra.”
    Ivy hid her smile behind her Gatorade bottle as she took a sip. Poor Declan. She couldn’t believe a guy
    who was this big and tough could get so tongue-tied when it came to talking to a woman. But he had a
    serious crush on Kendra.
    “I was…um…wondering if you…might want to…you know, grab something to eat.”
    Kendra frowned in confusion. She looked down at her empty tray, then up at Declan. “Thanks, but I
    already ate.”
    He flushed beneath his tan. “Right. I knew that. I just…you know, thought you might want to go out to
    dinner this weekend.”
    “Dinner? Oh.”
    Kendra glanced at Ivy, looking helpless and in desperate need of a life preserver, but Ivy wasn’t tossing
    one to her. If Kendra was going to give him the brush-off—yet again—she was going to do it without Ivy’s
    help. Something Kendra must have quickly figured out because she turned back to Declan.
    “Thanks for the offer, Declan, but I’m kind of swamped right now with training and everything.”
    Kendra gave him a small smile. “Maybe after Ivy and Landon are certified.”
    As brush-offs went, it wasn’t rude, but from the way Declan’s shoulders sagged, Kendra might as well
    have told him he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever going out with her. Ivy couldn’t blame
    him. What she couldn’t understand was why he kept asking Kendra out after she’d shot him down so many
    times. Wasn’t doing the same thing and expecting different results the definition of insanity?
    To his credit, Declan didn’t let the hurt show. He even managed a grin. “Sure. Sounds good.” He gave
    Ivy a nod. “See you around.”
    He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something else to Kendra, but after giving her one more puppy-dog
    look, he turned and headed for the cafeteria’s big double doors. Ivy frowned as she watched him go. He
    looked even more upset this time than he usually did when Kendra turned him down. She’d have to tell
    Tate to keep an eye on Declan. She didn’t want the shifter getting himself or someone else hurt because he
    was in a depression-induced fog.
    Ivy looked at Kendra. “Why don’t you just give the poor guy a break and go out with him?”
    Her friend’s brow rose. “Declan? You’re not serious?”
    “Why not? He’s obviously crazy about you.”
    “I know. Which is why I feel awful turning him down every time he asks me out. But he’s just not my
    type.”
    Of course he wasn’t. Kendra’s type was Clayne, a guy who didn’t have the time of day for her. As a
    result, Kendra missed out on what could be a good thing with Declan. And Clayne was missing out on a
    good thing with Kendra because he only had eyes for Ivy. And she wasn’t interested. In him or anyone else.
    Sometimes she wondered if the DCO was a high-speed government covert-ops organization or a
    dysfunctional soap opera.
    Chapter 4
    Ivy braced for a confrontation with Landon, but he was as nice to her after lunch as he’d been before.
    Either Foley hadn’t said anything nasty about her, or Landon hadn’t believed him. She hoped it was the
    latter. Although she was dying to know what the two men had talked about, she didn’t ask. The curiosity,
    however, was enough to distract her.
    Luckily, that afternoon’s training didn’t require a lot of concentration. It was physically demanding,
    though, and by the end of the day they were both dirty, sweaty, and exhausted.
    “Man, I