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

by Danica Flynn

  I shook my head and batted his hand away. “Sorry, it’s such a mess. And sorry for not waking you; I got lost in the words.”

  He studied me for a moment but didn’t say anything at first. “Okay, I think we need to go get you some new bookshelves.”

  “You don’t need to buy me bookcases.”

  He smiled. “I have the day off and no practice, so let me do something nice for you.”

  Normally, I would have put up a fight, but the way he looked so earnestly at me, I couldn’t say no. I nodded. “Fine, yeah, okay.”

  “Come on. You know you’re excited to buy new bookshelves.”

  “Maybe…” I trailed off but grinned from ear-to-ear. Riley totally knew the right things to say to me. “I would totally marry the Beast to get that sick-ass library.”

  “Are you saying I’m a beast?” He laughed and flexed his muscles.

  I visibly rolled my eyes at him, but I smiled.

  “Come on,” he urged. “I’ll make breakfast, and then we can go get you something better than the floor to put your books on. Damn, you have a lot of books.”

  I cringed but stood up to follow him out of the office and into the kitchen. “Sorry.”

  He kissed the top of my head. “Don’t be. I’m just teasing.”

  I watched him make another pot of coffee and start cooking up some eggs for omelettes. I had asked him if he wanted help, but he absolutely refused. It was almost like he was trying to woo me, which I guess made sense if he really wanted this marriage to work. There was that old saying that a way to a man’s heart was their stomach, but I think they were talking about me.

  He opened the kitchen cabinet looking for plates and looked back at me with a smile. “Did you do dishes while I was gone?”

  “Yeah…” I trailed off like it was the dumbest question I had heard all week. “And the laundry.”

  “I thought the sheets smelled fresh. That’s—you didn’t have to do that,” he stuttered.

  I shrugged. “You weren’t here. Shouldn’t I help around here? I am your wife, after all.”

  Riley set a plate down in front of me and handed me a fork, then he came around to the barstool next to me and took his own plate. He shoveled some food in his mouth, and I did too. I almost moaned at the taste. We were both quiet while we ate. More like Riley devoured his food, and I took my time eating because I was thinking too hard. When we were done, I took the empty plates and loaded up the dishwasher. He tried to protest, but I glared with a killing look, and he held up his hands in surrender.

  When I finished the clean-up, I saw he was sitting on the couch and furrowing his brow while reading the book I had been reading last night. Embarrassment colored my face as I walked over to him and sat on the couch next to him.

  He turned to me with the biggest smirk I had ever seen on his face. “I can’t believe they let people write books like this.”

  I barked out a long laugh. “Oh, honey, you don’t even know. That’s not even like a BDSM book. That one’s pretty tame.”

  He flipped to the back to read the summary. “Wait a second...this is a hockey romance?”

  I put my face in my hands but laughed. It was kind of ironic to be reading a hockey romance book when my life was currently feeling like one. Riley closed the book, leaving my bookmark where I left off last night and putting the book back on the coffee table. I would definitely be picking that back up when he was back on the road.

  He sighed. “So I think we should talk about things.”

  I swear I could hear my heart, it started beating so hard. No one ever wanted to hear that sentence, and I was worried about what he wanted to talk about. But I nodded and calmly said, “Okay.”

  He twisted his ring around on his left hand, and subconsciously I started to fidget with my own. Even though I had asked to get divorced the day after we got married, I hadn’t taken off my ring, not once. I was a little confused about what that meant. I watched him sigh and run a hand down his chiseled jaw. He hadn’t shaved in a couple days, and I couldn’t help but think the rugged look was damn sexy on him.

  “Look, I’m done with the single life. I want something real, and I think…I want something real with you.” I was sensing a ‘but’ coming here, but I stayed quiet and let him continue. “I feel like I trapped you into this marriage, so if you really want a divorce and to not give this a shot with me, I’ll understand.”

  I did want that...or at least I thought that was what I wanted. But I had really missed him while he had been away. And now, seeing this man before me so vulnerable and so caring, I wasn’t sure what I wanted.

  “I don’t know what I want,” I admitted. “I do feel like this marriage was a bit rushed, but I told you I would give you a couple months to prove to me that this could work between us.”

  He turned to me with a surprised look on his face. “I think we could have a happy life together, but if you’re not happy, I don’t want that. You’re right, though, and Mom said the same thing, that we rushed into this too quickly after what happened to you.”

  I nodded. “She’s not wrong, but I think my relationship with Eric had ended a long time ago. Him not showing up was the final straw. Katie thinks he had been cheating on me the whole time.”

  Riley’s jaw clenched, and I noticed his fists did too. I knew how he felt about cheaters after what his dad did to his mom. I felt the anger rolling off of him, so I reached out a hand to calm him down. “Hey, it’s okay. Good thing I didn’t marry him. Good thing I married you instead.”

  Riley nodded, but he still seemed cautious and unsure, which was strange to me because I wanted him to lean over and slant his mouth onto mine. There was a torrent of emotions clouding his eyes, and it filled me with dread. I really thought we had made a mistake in getting married, but when I looked at him sitting here bearing his soul to me, something in my heart flipped over. I told myself it was just my lust for his hot bod, but I wasn’t exactly sure about that. Maybe it wasn’t just sexual attraction between us. There were too many years between us for it to just be platonic love between friends. That’s what scared me the most.

  He grabbed my hand suddenly and kissed the back of it. Oh, he was so smooth. I think my heart melted at that sweet gesture a little bit. “You know my schedule’s crazy,” he warned.

  “I know.”

  “We have a road stretch next week, and I’ll be gone all week.”

  “I know,” I said again. I had checked his schedule the other day, wanting to know how much we would get to see each other. In a couple months, the season would be over unless they made the playoffs, which I kind of doubted they would.

  “A lot of women can’t handle the pressure of having an absent partner. So I would understand if it gets to be too much for you.”

  I cocked my head at him and studied his profile for a moment. “Riley, I know the deal, and…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but okay, let’s try this. What did I say when we went to get our marriage license?”

  He smirked. “I believe you said YOLO.”

  “Do you think anyone will ever buy that we got married?”

  He laughed. “I have gotten a lot of questions from my teammates.”

  I paused for a second. I knew hockey was important to him and his teammates were important to him, but the idea of being a WAG and having my whole identity based on him rubbed me the wrong way. So it was really strange to me when my mouth opened on its own accord and I asked, “So do you want me to meet your teammates?”

  He reached a hand up and pushed my hair out of my face. “Only if you want to.”

  “I do.”

  He smiled back at me and pulled his hand away. I found myself slightly disappointed when he didn’t kiss me.

  “Come on, girl, let’s go get you some new bookcases.”

  He did not have to tell me twice.

  Chapter Sixteen

  RILEY

  “What about this one?” I asked Fi.

  She peered up at the cherry-wood bookca
ses that would look perfect in the office. She looked down at her phone, her long fiery-red hair sliding up her back at the movement. My hand itched to wrap around her hair, to feel her in my arms again, but I wasn’t going to press her right now. After our talk today, I was more aware that if this marriage was going to work, I needed to really woo her. So, as much as I had no desire to shop for furniture in the maze that was IKEA on my day off, I did want to spend time with her.

  She put a finger on her chin. “I think it could work…”

  “Sweetheart, it would fit perfectly!” I argued.

  I pretended not to notice the color on her face at the pet-name or the way one corner of her lips upturned at it. She wasn’t as good at hiding her feelings as she thought. My job was to read people, to figure out what the other guy was thinking, so of course, I saw that she was fighting her feelings. Also, she had been my best friend before becoming my wife, so I knew her in and out. Probably better than she knew herself.

  She nodded. “Okay, let’s get it. I’m sorry this is probably really boring for you.” She took a picture of the id number on the bookcase and walked away.

  I followed her through the maze of the showroom. I caught up to her as she weaved her way through people trying to get to the bottom floor where we could get the boxes for the bookshelves. I reached out and grabbed her hand, smiling to myself as her fingers threaded through mine almost on instinct. Being away from her sucked, but I had a feeling that I was starting to chip through the wall she put up between us.

  “You don’t have to buy this for me,” she finally said when we got to the lower level and were searching through the aisles to find the box for the bookshelf.

  “You’re so frustrating. Let me take care of you,” I growled while I pushed our cart down the aisle to the row we needed.

  I could afford to buy her a nicer bookshelf at a fancier furniture store, but Fi insisted that IKEA could do the job. I wasn’t about to have a pointless argument with my wife over where to buy her bookshelf. Maybe I should have thought about building them into the wall themselves. I didn’t really have time for that project and a half, though. Although I knew Benny and Noah would have helped in a heartbeat, and Noah grew up in the middle of nowhere Winnipeg and was really good with his hands.

  She put her hands on her hips and stared at me with a cocked red eyebrow as if challenging me. I took the pushcart and pulled the box we needed on top of it. It was heavy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I glanced up and saw she was still giving me that furious look.

  “Don’t be like that, Fi.”

  She sighed and ran a hand across her face. “I’m sorry. You know how I don’t like to ask for help.”

  “No? You?” I asked sarcastically.

  She glared. “Riley, you don’t have to be this guy. You don’t have to feel like you need to take care of me.”

  I pulled her toward me by her slender waist and grinned as she blushed at the public display of affection. I gave her a quick kiss. “Shush. I want to. I’m your husband. Let me provide for you.”

  “But you don’t have to,” she argued.

  I gave her another kiss to soften her edges. “But I want to.”

  That seemed to shut her up, so we went to the checkout, and she didn’t refuse this time when I paid for her damn bookshelves. I loaded the SUV with the boxes, not really looking forward to having to put it together, but I would do this for her with no complaints. She was being so stubborn today, and I couldn’t stand it. Didn’t we literally talk about trying to make this thing work? She was really gonna make me work to woo her.

  Fi was looking at her phone when I got into the driver’s seat. I checked the clock and saw it was around lunchtime. Fi looked up when I started the engine. She put a gentle hand on my arm. “Thank you. For doing this for me. I know this isn’t exactly how you want to spend your day off.”

  I grabbed her hand in my bigger one and brought it to my lips to kiss it. “I want to spend time with you.”

  Her eyes crinkled when she smiled at me. “In that case, do you want to go to South Street today? I wanted to stop in the comic book store. There’s a good Italian restaurant next door where we could go for lunch.”

  “Sounds like a date.”

  “Is it?” she asked cautiously and bit her lip.

  “What?”

  “Is it a date?”

  “Yes. Is that a problem?”

  She shook her head. I kissed her hand one last time before letting her go and putting both hands back on the steering wheel.

  We found a parking garage and then walked several blocks down to South Street. I didn’t mind, because walking in the city with her hand in mine was the best feeling in the world.

  I had always dated women who were smaller than me - being six feet tall, that was a given - but Fi’s five-foot-nine height made her just a tiny bit shorter than me. I liked a tall, lean woman like Fi with legs for days and a nice ass. I had never really been a big breast-man, but I liked Fi’s. Not too small but not too big. They didn’t necessarily fit in the palm of my big hands, but they were nice. And shit, I was thinking about my wife’s tits in the middle of a public street. The tightening in my jeans reminded me that I should stop that right now.

  She cocked an eyebrow at me while she stepped up into the comic book store. “What’s that face for?” she asked.

  I let her drag me inside. “What face?”

  “You have your horny face on.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I asked with a laugh.

  She laughed. “You do! You make a face when you’re horny. Has no one ever told you that?”

  She was still laughing as she pulled me into the back of the shop. There were rows upon rows of thick collections of comics from the floor to the ceiling. She eyed the thick, hard-back binding of what looked like an entire comic run in one book. I didn’t know shit about comics or any of this nerd shit, but the look on her face when she searched was enough to make me want to watch her look at books all day.

  Was that weird?

  Probably.

  She crouched down to look at the bottom shelf, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t turn my head a little and stare at her ass. God, my wife was hot. She pulled a couple of soft-cover comics out of the stacks and stood back up. A red eyebrow arched at me again, and I realized I was still staring.

  She reached her hand up to grip my jaw between her fingers. “Eyes up here, buddy,” she teased.

  “Come on, Fi. You know you’re hot,” I tried to argue.

  She bristled at that but shoved me out of the way and walked up to the counter. I followed behind her, ready to whip out my credit card again, but she already had hers out. She chatted with the blue-haired guy at the counter about the comics she was buying. I couldn’t help but notice his eyes sweeping across her chest. My eyes narrowed to tiny slits in his direction. Fi didn’t pay it any mind but waved goodbye to him with her bag in hand, and I quickly grabbed her other hand into mine. Fi squeezed my hand in warning, but soon we were out on the street and about to walk into the place she wanted to go for lunch. Only to walk straight into Stephanie—Benny’s girl—and Cindy, one of my exes.

  “Riley!” Cindy exclaimed in surprise.

  Her dark olive skin-tone shone in the sun, and her dark eyes narrowed in confusion at Fi standing next to me. Cindy was a great girl, but she was one of the few relationships that didn’t work out because she couldn’t handle me never being around. There were no hard feelings; I got that it was hard on the girls when their partner was gone most of the time. Not every break-up had to be terrible.

  Stephanie narrowed her grey eyes at me in confusion and flipped her black hair behind her shoulder. She hated me. Don’t know why; I was always nice to her.

  “Hey, Cin, Steph, how are you?” I greeted them.

  Stephanie’s eyes scanned from me to Fi, who was looking at me with a confused look. “Fine,” Stephanie answered coolly. “Who’s this?”

  Fi opened her mouth to make a snarky comment,
and this time I squeezed her hand to warn her and say ‘be nice.’ “This is my wife, Fiona. Fi, this is Benny’s girl, Stephanie, and...Cindy’s my—”

  “His ex,” she cut me off to explain. Cindy’s smile was genuine. She was such a great girl. I hoped she would find someone soon.

  “Benny said you got married; I thought it was a joke,” Stephanie snarked.

  Oh, there was definitely something up with him and her again, and I had a feeling it was the fact that he didn’t want to get serious again. Shit. Fi kinda already knew about their frequent fights and that Benny sometimes crashed in my guest room, but maybe I had to tell him he needed to escape somewhere else. I think he eluded to that when I offered to let him stay when he helped move Fi into my place.

  “It was nice to meet both of you,” Fi offered, and I could tell she meant it.

  “Riley, I’m so happy for you!” Cindy beamed. “You both look so happy together!”

  “We won’t keep you,” Stephanie told us with a grimace.

  “Nice seeing you,” I told them and then steered Fi into the restaurant.

  We got situated in the restaurant and ordered before Fi finally asked about the elephant in the room. I had been texting Benny to ask what was up and had to look up.

  “So Benny’s girlfriend doesn’t like you. What did you ever do to her?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Nothing. Benny and her are having problems.”

  “Oh. What does that have to do with you?”

  “He’s not really big on the whole marriage thing.”

  “Oh. And that Asian girl was your ex? She seemed nice.”

  “Yeah, Cindy’s a great girl, but she couldn’t handle me traveling all the time.”

  She sipped her water in thought.

  I put my phone down, and I reached out to take her hand. “Tell me about your progress with the book.”

  Her smile was a thousand-watt, and I wanted to see it on her face for the rest of my life. “Brad thinks I have imposter syndrome and that I need to release the first draft.”