Score Her Heart: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (Philadelphia Bulldogs Book 2)

by Danica Flynn

  I stood up off the barstool and bent down to kiss her cheek. “I’ll be back.”

  I brushed past a bridesmaid who was heading towards Fi and found her parents with solemn faces talking to the hotel staff. Fi’s dad saw me coming towards them. He was a tall man with fading red hair that was seventy-five percent grey and had been thinning for a long time. My hands started to sweat at the question I was about to ask him. Maybe this was a bad idea. Who proposes to their best friend moments after she got left at the altar? I wiped my hands on my dress pants as I approached Mr. Gallagher.

  He shook my hand firmly and clapped his other one on my shoulder. “Riley!” he greeted.

  “Mr. Gallagher.”

  “It’s good to see you. Wish it was under better circumstances,” he told me with a grimace.

  “Yeah, I heard about that. Listen, I have a solution. It may sound a little reckless, but she agreed so…”

  Fi’s mom stopped mid-sentence when she saw me and stepped away from the hotel staff to see what was going on. “Riley?” she asked cautiously.

  “So I want to ask for your blessing...” I continued.

  “My blessing?” Mr. Gallagher asked with a confused look on his face.

  “Riley, what are you saying?” Mrs. Gallagher asked, but she had this sparkle in her eyes. Of course she did. My mom and Fi’s mom had practically been planning our wedding since before we were even born.

  I ran a hand down my jaw. “What if I married your daughter instead?”

  “Like right now?” Mrs. Gallagher asked, but she was beaming like I had told her she won the lottery. Katherine Gallagher had been praying to the hockey gods for me to marry her daughter our entire lives. No wonder she was on board about this. She wasn’t even questioning my motives here.

  Cillian Gallagher was a different story. The middle-aged man scowled at me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why?”

  “Why?” I echoed.

  “Yes, Riley, why do you want to marry my daughter?” he elaborated and gave me a stern look. “You aren’t exactly the type of guy who wants to be tied down.”

  I cringed. That might have been true if you were looking from the outside. I did have a good time with a lot of women who I never saw again. Sometimes my teammates teased me about being the ‘King of Hookups,’ but lately, I’d been thinking about finding someone to share my life with. Someone who didn’t mind my grueling hockey schedule. And maybe sometimes I pictured that woman being tall and having red hair.

  I straightened up and squared my shoulders. “Cillian, I could make your daughter very happy.”

  He scoffed. “I know she would live comfortably with you, but money’s not everything.”

  “I don’t mean because of money. It’s not just about providing for her.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Then explain it to me. Explain it like I’m five.”

  “Because she deserves someone who will love her. Not some ass-wipe who can’t even bother to tell her to her face that he didn’t want to go through with this.”

  Cillian studied me for a tick, and I started to get nervous. “She agreed to this?”

  I nodded. “I know it’s really unconventional, but—”

  Katherine cut me off, “Cillian! Give him our blessing! We’ve always wanted Riley to be our son-in-law.”

  “Kat,” Cillian began.

  “Cillian! It’s finally happening; they finally realized they’re meant to be.”

  Cillian gave me a bemused look, but he still didn’t seem like he was exactly on board with this whole thing. He rubbed a hand down his tired face. “Fuck it, whatever. I’m already paying for this wedding.”

  “I can—”

  He held up his hand. “No! I’ll pay for my daughter’s wedding, and you make sure you make her happy for the rest of your lives. You got me, Riley?”

  I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  He sighed but shook his head. “Good thing we flew all the way out here to Vegas where you can get a wedding license right away. Go on, get out of here before I try to convince the both of you that this is a bad idea.”

  Katherine beamed at me and hugged me tightly. Then she fixed my tie for me and smoothed down my suit jacket. “It’s not a tux, but Fiona won’t care. You look handsome. Welcome to the family, Riley.”

  I let her fuss over me for a few minutes, but I eyed my mother, sitting in the ballroom and staring at me in question. I shrugged at her; I was probably going to get an earful about it later, but I didn’t have time for that right now. I said my goodbyes to my future in-laws and walked over to Fi, who was still sitting at the bar. She handed a big diamond engagement ring to a familiar-looking bridesmaid who looked really sorry. Fuck, I didn’t think about rings. We could always do that later.

  “Come on, girl, we need to go get a license,” I told her. Luckily, it was Vegas, and there was no waiting period in this city, so I was sure we could get this done quickly. I hoped.

  The dark-haired bridesmaid widened her eyes, and that’s when it clicked in my head that she was Eric’s sister, Katie. “You can’t be serious. You’re going to marry Riley?

  Fi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, tell your brother to fuck off. Also, please stay. I need you,” she urged the other woman, gripping her hand tightly.

  Katie looked me up and down and shook her head in disbelief. I didn’t blame her; this was impulsive, but we were doing this. “What’s your ring size?” Katie asked me.

  “My what?”

  “You’re not getting married with the rings my brother chose. I’ll get the rings since I know Fi’s style, and you get the license,” she explained.

  Oh, I liked this girl. “Ten,” I told her with a crooked grin.

  I held up my hand for the bartender. He came over quickly. “Another round?” he asked.

  “Nah, can I close out my tab?”

  He nodded. While I sorted that out, the two women beside me talked about ring types. I really hadn’t thought about that at all. When I saw Fi in her wedding dress in tears, it broke my heart, and asking her to marry me instead was the first thing that popped in my head to solve it. I was honestly surprised she had agreed to this.

  I held out my hand to Fi, which she took, and I helped get her off the barstool without getting caught up in her skirts. She let go of my hand and bunched the bottom of the dress up around her. I put my hand on the small of her back and guided her to the exit, where we ran into Ellen Forrester.

  Ellen was wearing the same wine colored dress as Mrs. Gallagher and Katie. Her blond hair was pulled back into a bun, but her eyebrow raised up in amusement at seeing the two of us. Ellen was another old friend from back home who one hundred percent had a crush on me in the third grade, and I would never let her live it down. We liked to give each other shit. I think Ellen thrived on it.

  “Um, what are you doing?” she asked and eyed the two of us suspiciously.

  “Going to get a new marriage license,” Fi deadpanned.

  Ellen did a double-take and looked back and forth between the two of us. Then she tipped back her head and laughed. “You two? Fi, you’re not going to marry Riley instead!”

  I glared at her. “What’s wrong with me?”

  Ellen sighed. “Did you agree to this? I can’t believe you would agree to this.”

  “Hey! It was my idea,” I protested.

  Ellen shook her head at me. “I don’t think I have enough words to explain why this is a bad idea.”

  Fi bit her lip and looked up at me. “She has a point. This is impulsive, right?” she asked.

  I smirked at her. “Yes, but we’re gonna do this. I triple dog dare ya.”

  She smiled back at me. “Well, in that case, we better get that paperwork done!”

  There was my girl.

  Ellen threw up her hands in exasperation and walked away. She would get over it. She had a point that this was not my best idea, but I wasn’t about to back down now. Fi was supposed to get married today, and she would, just maybe not to the guy she tho
ught.

  I walked Fi outside to my rental car and opened the passenger side door for her. “Ugh, you don’t need to do that,” she sighed at me, but I think she was thankful because I had to help her in and make sure her dress didn’t get caught in the door.

  I started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

  “Are we really doing this?” she finally asked.

  “Yeah, we are. Why not?”

  “Why would you want to marry me?”

  “Because you’re my best friend, and I want you to be happy, and maybe I can make you happy,” I explained.

  She looked down at her manicured hands and didn’t say anything else.

  I pulled into the Clark County Marriage License Bureau and parked the car. “Fi, if you don’t want to do this, tell me now.”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s good. Let’s do this.”

  “There’s my girl,” I told her with a smile.

  I got out of the car and helped her out of the passenger side, so she didn’t mess up her dress. She held the skirt with both her hands and I put my hand on the small of her back. It was late afternoon, but luckily, there wasn’t a long wait before we could apply for the license. The woman at the counter walked us through all the paperwork, and we showed her our IDs. We had the license in no time, and we were on our way back to the hotel pretty quickly. Driving toward my wedding - and especially my wedding to Fi - felt good. Not just good; it felt right. I was tired of the single life, and if I did this for Fi, I was doing this for real. She might wake up tomorrow and want a divorce, but today, I was going to marry her.

  When we got back to the hotel, her bridesmaids ushered her away, and the wedding planner took me to the ballroom to stand at the altar. Only her brother Finnegan was a groomsman; I guess the rest were all Eric’s friends, and they left when he didn’t show up. He mouthed to me, “What the fuck?” but I shrugged.

  Before I knew it, the bridesmaids were walking down the aisle, and then Fi herself was standing in front of me. We clasped hands, and even though I had already seen her in her dress, she looked as beautiful as ever. I didn’t understand how anyone could have up and left this woman high and dry on her wedding day.

  When the official asked about vows, we looked at each other in horror. We had forgotten about that.

  “We have our own,” Fi said. “Improvise,” she mouthed to me.

  My lips quirked up into a smirk, and I nodded to her so she could start first.

  “This is really weird,” she started. “Today, I was supposed to marry someone else, but he left me. Then you came in like a knight in shining armor and offered to marry me instead. The years have been hard with us being apart, but you have always been my best friend. I’m not sure if I’ll be a good hockey wife, so don’t get mad when I tell you that you played like hot garbage. Let’s do this thing.”

  I laughed at that, and Katie handed her the ring. Fi took my hand in hers and slipped the simple wedding band onto my left hand. I looked at her and started my own vows. “Fiona, I know this is weird, and I’m honestly surprised you agreed to this in the first place. Although, I know our moms have been praying for us to get married pretty much our whole lives, so they’re probably stoked. I promise you that I will always support your writing, even though I don’t think there is enough sex in sci-fi books. Come on, girl, let’s get married.”

  Katie handed me the ring, and I slipped the matching ring on Fi’s slender left hand. The smile she gave me filled my chest with warmth. No woman ever made me feel like Fiona Gallagher did.

  The official smiled at us and said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

  I leaned down, wrapped my hands around her neck, and kissed her with all the passion I could muster. I felt familiar sparks flying between us, and I couldn’t wait until I could get her alone later tonight.

  “Come on, Wifey, let’s go party,” I whispered into her ear. That earned me a glare, but she couldn’t hide the smile behind her emerald eyes.

  Chapter Three

  FIONA

  I woke to what felt like a sledgehammer against my skull, and my mouth was as dry as the Sahara. The room was spinning, and I was sure I needed to go throw up all the whiskey I drank last night. Why did I decide to drink so much damn whiskey?

  I shifted in the bed, fighting off the spins, and realized I couldn’t move. I was pinned down by a large forearm wrapped around my waist. I looked down at the familiar red and gold phoenix tattoo and then realized I was naked under the covers.

  SHIT.

  I laid there for a minute, blinking up at the ceiling in confusion. When I saw my wedding gown hanging up in the open closet, all the memories of last night came back to me in a drunken flash. The reception had been a drunken good time, and Riley hadn’t been able to keep his hands off me. Not like groping my tits in front of everyone, but when we danced together, he held me close, his big hands dangerously close to my ass. During dinner, his hand had stayed clasped onto my thigh in a possessive yet protective manner that made me feel safe. Then we kept on drinking and drinking until we were kissing hungrily, and we finally left the party to fulfill our duties of consummating our marriage.

  Which we did. Multiple times.

  He had been careful to help me out of my dress and even hung it up for me before he worshipped my body for hours. That wasn’t an exaggeration; he spent a good deal of the night with his head between my legs, giving me pleasure like I had never felt before. I had returned the favor, very eagerly, and when it came time for the final act, he was kind and gentle and let me be in charge. And then we did it again with him on top, and then a third time before he finally got aggressive with me and bent me over the bed until we were both spent. Still drunk, I vaguely remembered us passing out on the bed naked but clutching each other.

  Holy fuck, I was married to Riley, and we had so much sex last night. Like more than I’d had with my fiancé in the last three months. Which was, unfortunately, the last time I had sex with the man I had been with for half a decade and was supposed to get married to. This was so fucked.

  The need to vomit brought me back to reality. Luckily, Riley had moved to his back, so I was able to slink out of the bed and rush to the bathroom, where I emptied pretty much all the contents of my stomach. A shadow came across the wall, and I felt a warm hand at my back, rubbing it in comforting circles. Another hand pulled back my long red hair so I didn’t get sick all over it. It was sweet, but a little too late for that. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, the silver band of my wedding ring gleaming in the light as if taunting me.

  I stood up to turn to Riley. We were both still naked, and my eyes couldn’t stop staring at the hard lines of his chest. I dipped my gaze down past his pectorals to the insanely ripped six-pack he had going on. I knew hockey players were pretty fit, but fuck, my best friend was all hard muscle and strength. He was such a man now, and last night he had treated me like he was mine and I was his. In the light of the day and with my head pounding, I wasn’t sure if that was what I wanted.

  “Sweetheart,” he whispered to me quietly, and I felt something soft and warm come over my body at his tender voice calling me that. One finger lifted my chin up to look at him. “You okay?”

  I nodded but looked down, which was actually a bad idea because I was looking right at the thing that I had begged to have inside me last night. I shook my head, went over to the sink, and gargled some mouthwash.

  Riley stood in the doorway of the bathroom, leaning against the frame, watching me.

  “What?” I snapped.

  “You sure you’re okay?” he asked.

  “I’m very hungover. Can you please fuck off?”

  He smirked. “Come back to bed, feisty.”

  I shook my head and waved him away. “I want to take a shower.”

  He nodded, but instead of leaving like a normal fucking person, Riley shut the bathroom door behind him. I watched him get into the shower stall and turn the faucet on. I stared a
t him through the glass door, watching the water droplets running down his muscular back. I continued to stare, unable to believe what my life had turned into.

  I married my best friend.

  My fiancé left me at the altar, and I married my best friend instead.

  And had really hot married sex with him. Like so good, I can’t remember the last time a man made me feel that fucking good during sex. A man who was patient and let me have multiple orgasms before coming himself. A man who ate me out with so much vigor and who made little noises of enjoyment while he did it. As if he actually liked to be down there doing that!

  “You coming in?” he asked over the running water.

  Oh, right. I wanted to take a shower because I was majorly hungover and felt like death.

  But showering with Riley right now? I mean, sure, we had fucked all over this suite last night, but taking a shower together felt so intimate. Still, he technically was my husband, so it shouldn’t have been that weird. With a sigh, I stepped into the shower next to the big man, who was all soaped up and looking yummy.

  Fuck, am I still drunk?

  Possibly. My vision did seem a bit cloudy.

  Riley smiled and switched spots with me so I could be under the showerhead. I stood under the hot water for a few minutes. My skin felt like it was on fire, but the water felt good despite the temperature.

  My thoughts assaulted me while I stood under the showerhead. Riley was a decent guy, which was why he had offered to marry me, but I think this was a mistake. I loved my best friend, but it was no secret that he was kind of anti-relationship and the king of casual hookups. There was no way he seriously wanted to be married to me. It was an impulsive decision to correct a terrible problem, but I could fix this. We had to get an annulment, and then everything would be fine.

  I bit my lip to prevent the moan from escaping my lips when I felt his hands begin to massage my scalp. It took a bit for my drunken, foggy brain to realize he was washing my hair for me. Oh my God, this man was something else. His fingers massaged tenderly, but I kept my eyes closed. There was no way I could look at him. He was being so gentle and caring. Fuck, was he going to be a good husband or what? But not for me.