To Catch a Man (In 30 Days or Less) (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) Read Free Page A

turned and headed down the cereal aisle.
    Indie could only shake her head and
smile.  Once she set her mind to something, Tessa took it very seriously. 
Indie had left straight from the attorney’s office and headed back to her car
where she’d called her best friend from her cell phone.  Once she’d shared her
dilemma with Tessa, she’d taken it on as her own personal project, telling
Indie to head straight home to Burlington so they could plan.  Tessa was
something else, always up for a challenge, especially when it involved men.
    Indie left the vegetable aisle and
was on her way to the bakery section when Tessa came flying toward her, all
smiles.  “I found him, Indie, and don’t tell me you don’t like him.  I spoke to
him and he’s pleasant and smart.  He’s a high school math teacher.  And he’s
ordinary looking, just like you asked.”
    Before Indie could say a word in
response Tessa grabbed the trolley and began pushing it toward aisle seven.
    “Hey, wait up.”
    Even with her little legs Tessa was
moving fast and Indie had to hurry to catch up.  “Listen,” she whispered loudly
to her friend’s back, “I don’t know if this is such a good idea, hunting men in
the super-”
    “Phillip!  Hi.  Fancy running into
you again so quickly.”  Tessa pushed the trolley toward a man wearing dark
slacks and a light blue dress shirt.  At the sound of her voice he turned
quickly, a broad smile on his face.
    “Tessa.”  He looked genuinely happy
to see her.  “I thought I had lost you.  One minute I was reaching for a box of
cornflakes and the next moment you'd disappeared.”
    “Oh, I just went to get my friend,”
Tessa told him then she turned to Indie, looking as pleased as pie.  Indie
almost rolled her eyes.
    “Phillip, I’d like you to meet my
friend, Indiana Lane.  Indie, this is Phillip Robertson.”  She reached out and
grabbed Indie’s hand, dragging her forward, almost making her bump into the man
whose smile suddenly went stiff then slowly began to fade.
    “Oh,” he said and blinked then he
looked from Indie to Tessa then back to Indie.  Then he stuck out his hand. 
“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Lane.”
    Yeah, right.  Indie knew it wasn’t
her he wanted to get to know, it was Tessa.  When she’d struck up her
conversation with him he must have been flattered, thinking she was interested
in him.  And then to be thrown a serious-looking, no makeup woman who was
taller than he was?  Obviously, not what he was expecting.
    “Yes, good meeting you, too,” 
Indie said and, just to be polite, she shook his hand.  “Now, if you’ll excuse
me, I still have a lot of shopping to do.”
    It was almost funny to see the look
of relief that passed over the man’s face when he saw that she was leaving. 
Almost.  She was a tough bird but what woman wanted to know that a man found her
so unattractive that he was glad she was leaving?  That was what she got for
hanging out with Tessa.  Sometimes it sucked to have such a pretty little
friend hanging around.  It highlighted just how unfeminine she was, with her
tall frame, short hair and plain face.  Crap.
    She was pushing the trolley toward
the frozen food section when Tessa came running after her.  “Indie, are you
insane?  Why did you go running off like that?  He was perfect.”
    “Yeah,” she said with a snort. 
“With him being four inches shorter than me and bald, how could I give up such
a catch?  I must be freakin’ crazy.” 
    “Hey, there’s no need to be
sarcastic.” 
    Indie groaned.  “You’re right. 
That was uncalled for and I'm sorry.  But don’t you see the guy was all ga-ga
over you?  It wasn’t me he wanted.”
    “If you’d just given him a chance-”
    “Look,” Indie said, cutting Tessa
off before she started to lecture her on a hopeless cause, “I know you’re just
trying to help.  And I know this situation is absurd, what with that stupid
deadline.  But I don’t think picking