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

by Danica Flynn

  “Who’s Brad?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

  She waved her hand at my jealousy. “My agent. I had him and Katie over to watch the game last night.”

  I frowned. “You could have come to the game; I could have gotten you tickets.”

  She looked down at her hands in her lap. “I didn’t want to impose.”

  “Sweetheart, it’s not a big deal. Just give me notice next time, and I can get you tickets. I want you to come to my games. Will you come tomorrow?”

  Our food came, so the question sort of hung in the air for a bit. Fi laughed as she watched me eat more pasta than I knew what to do with. She stirred around the spaghetti on her eggplant parm, lost in thought. She still hadn’t answered my question.

  “So will you?” I asked again.

  “Depends on where I’m at with my book.”

  I nodded. “If you’re busy, I understand. I don’t want to impose on your work. It would mean a lot to me, though.”

  She seemed to mull it around. “Well…maybe I can work on it tonight.”

  I smiled up at her. I didn’t think she understood how much that meant to me. How much she meant to me.

  Chapter Seventeen

  FIONA

  I never understood when I read romance books and the heroine went on and on about wanting to lick the hot hero’s abs...until Riley was putting together my bookshelves with no shirt on. Why did he have to take his shirt off? I tried to write, but watching the cut man put together furniture was too distracting for me. I couldn’t focus, and it felt a bit too hot in here. I wanted to run my hands down his ripped body and kiss the length of his forearm tattoo.

  I was very horny and was deprived of sex from my hot best friend/husband, but I didn’t know how to bring up the conversation with him. I was really bad at asking for sex. Even when I was so uncomfortably horny.

  “Sweetheart?” Riley’s voice came back to me, but it felt like he was far away.

  “Hmm?” I asked but was still slack-jawed, staring at his insanely ripped torso. When did my best friend get so cut?

  “Eyes on your writing.”

  BUSTED.

  My face flushed, and he laughed. This man made my blood pump and my panties get wet. I wanted to jump him, but at the same time, he hadn’t exactly been open to us getting physical again. Why was he keeping me at arm’s length? He said he wanted this to work, but he hadn’t broached sex with me again, and I was starting to get self-conscious about it. Did he not want me anymore? Did he just want a wife to come home to? But he would continue to fuck whomever he wanted when he wasn’t here? We should have talked about this stuff, but I was too scared to know the answers. If I found out Riley had been fucking other women, it would have broken me.

  Riley swore under his breath.

  “What?” I asked.

  He looked down at his phone. “Do you care if Benny comes over tonight? He might need to crash here.” He gestured to the twin-sized bed that was shoved up on the back wall. I eyed it. I wasn’t exactly sure if six-foot-four Benny was going to fit in the spare bed.

  “It’s your condo!” I told him with a shrug.

  He stared at me and rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. He crossed the room and knelt down so we were at eye-level. He brushed my hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. I nearly melted at the gentle gesture.

  “Fiona, I thought we talked about this. I’m all in for this to be a true partnership. This is our home, not just mine, so of course I’m going to ask you if it’s okay with you if my friend comes over because he got into another fight with his girlfriend.”

  “It’s fine with me, but I think I need to move into the bedroom. You shirtless is a distraction.”

  “Oh yeah?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

  I shoved him away and took my laptop into our bedroom. I put headphones on and drowned out the rest of the world. I only came out to the smell of some really good food a few hours later.

  I stepped into the kitchen to find Benny behind the stove, stirring some sort of meat in one of the frying pans. It smelled amazing. Riley was sitting at one of the barstools nursing a beer.

  “Um…hi?” I asked.

  Benny looked over his shoulder and smiled at me. “Hi, Fi. Figured I’d make myself useful by making dinner since Riley said I could crash here tonight.”

  “What are you making?” I asked.

  “Chicken tinga tacos. It’s nothing special,” Benny replied with a shrug of his wide-set shoulders.

  Riley smiled while he peeled the label off his beer bottle. “He’s so modest.”

  “It smells awesome. Riley, you should have asked Benny to marry you instead. I think he’d be a better hockey wife.”

  Riley laughed.

  That got us both the finger from the big man in the kitchen.

  “How’s the writing going?” Riley asked.

  I wrung my hands. “Don’t ask! Ugh, it’s terrible. Everything sucks, and I’m sure my publisher’s gonna ask for my advance back.”

  I pretended not to notice the two men share an uneasy glance. “What did your agent say again?” Riley asked, trying to be helpful.

  I grumbled, “To send it over.”

  “Sweetheart, turn it in.”

  Benny turned off the burner. He turned to the three plates he had laid out on the counter with a soft tortilla shell laid out on each. He spooned the meat filling onto all three, along with diced avocado, onion, and some sort of soft cheese I didn’t recognize, and squeezed lime onto them. He handed me the first plate. “Here, ladies first.”

  I took my plate to the dining room table Riley had set up in the space in front of the big window. The two big men joined me. I took the first bite and moaned in ecstasy. “Holy shit!” I exclaimed.

  “Good, right?” Riley said with a grin. “That’s why the ladies all love Benny here.”

  Benny frowned. “Damn, this is still not as good as my abuela’s.”

  “So your grandmother taught you how to cook?” I asked

  I didn’t really know anything about Riley’s teammates. I had met TJ Desjardins last year in passing; he seemed like a fun guy, and he definitely hit on me, but I think he only did it to annoy Riley. Benny was Riley’s best friend, outside of me, so I did want to get to know the big man sitting next to me.

  He nodded. “I’m not close to my parents or my dad’s parents, but my mom’s parents have always been really loving and supportive. I used to hate it as a kid, but Abuela always said I would win some nice girl over with my cooking.”

  “Hasn’t worked yet, though,” Riley joked.

  I glared at my husband for being insensitive. Man, he must not like this Stephanie girl. “So what’s the deal with the girlfriend?” I asked.

  “Oh no you don’t. Go finish your writing, and then you can play therapist,” Riley warned.

  I gave him the finger, and Benny tipped back his head with a loud laugh. “Man, you two are something else. Not much to say, honestly. She wants the whole marriage and family thing, and that’s never been me.”

  “You don’t want kids?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Nope. I like being the fun uncle! Kids aren’t for me; it’s hard to find women who are okay with that. Some say they are but end up changing their mind.”

  Riley drained the rest of his beer. “So did you finally break up for good this time?”

  Benny shrugged. “No idea, but I knew I couldn’t stay there tonight. Thanks, Fi, for putting up with me.”

  I shook my head. “If you cook me dinner every time you need to crash here, it’s fine by me.”

  Both men laughed, but Benny looked sad, and that made me sad too. “No, really. I know you two are still in the newly-wed phase, and I feel bad being a cock-block,” he apologized.

  I averted my gaze and finished eating my tacos. Riley took the empty plates into the kitchen and started doing the dishes. He didn’t say anything either. Benny couldn’t really be a cockblock if we weren’t having sex
.

  Benny’s brown eyes bored into me. “Fi, you better not break his heart,” he whispered.

  “What?” I asked because I had zero idea what he was actually talking about.

  “Riley. That man loves you.”

  I stared at him for a second and then excused myself to go finish working on my book. Riley rolled into bed around eleven while I was still proofreading, sitting up against the headboard of our bed. I lifted the headphones off of my head and smiled at him. He undressed for bed and slid into the covers next to me.

  “Sweetheart,” he sighed. “Send it in.”

  I groaned. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

  “When’s your deadline?”

  “Tomorrow,” I mumbled.

  He groaned next to me but reached out a hand to stroke across my thigh exposed from the shorts I wore to bed. “Fi, turn it in. It will be okay.”

  Somehow the reassuring words from the man next to me actually worked, and I found myself emailing the first draft over. I closed the lid to my laptop and put it on the bedside table, then started getting ready for bed. When I slid between the sheets next to Riley, he was already passed out. That didn’t stop me from curling up against him as sleep took hold of me.

  “It’s Fiona, right?” the thin, blond-haired woman said to me when I sat in my seat right up in front of the glass. “I’m Brianna Girard.”

  She reached a hand out to me, and I shook it. “Fi’s fine. You’re the captain’s wife, right?”

  She nodded and looked to the ice where the boys were starting warm-ups. I looked over and saw Riley laughing with Benny as they raced across the ice and lobbed practice shots at the goaltender, Seamus Metz. Riley’s normally short-cropped blond hair was starting to grow past his ears. It reminded me of when we were kids, and he had that typical long hockey-flow look. I was kind of a fan of it.

  He skated by the glass and tapped it with a smile. I waved at him, and there was something deep inside me that was beaming as if to say, “He’s mine.”

  “First hockey game?” Brianna asked.

  I shook my head. “Oh, no, Minnesota born and raised. I spent so much time at the rink cheering Riley on.”

  “Oh? I didn’t realize you knew each other growing up.”

  I laughed. “All our lives. Our moms are best friends; it was unavoidable.”

  She looked at me with a curious glance. “Huh,” she finally said noncommittally.

  “He’s my best friend,” I explained.

  She smiled and pointed to the blond guy wearing the ‘C’ on his jersey and stretching on the ice with TJ Desjardins. “I understand that; I have one of those.”

  I smiled back but couldn’t say anything else because I felt the weight of the seat next to me dip in. I turned to see the brunette from yesterday sitting down next to me, Stephanie. Huh. I guessed she and Benny made up. She was holding a half-drunk beer in her hand, and there was a sour look on her face.

  Oh okkayyy then.

  “So you and Riley, huh?” she asked without any greeting.

  I nodded. Although all I could think about was what her boyfriend had said to me last night. And how I felt about it. Of course, Riley loved me; we were best friends. This marriage was a partnership, but that didn’t mean we were in love with each other. I mean, we loved each other. Of course, I loved Riley. He was my best friend, the person I trusted most when I discovered my sexuality, the person I told everything to. That didn’t mean we were madly in love with each other, though. A marriage could just be a partnership; it didn’t have to be for love. Right?

  Stephanie drained the rest of the beer and fixed me with a dirty look. I crossed eyes with Brianna, who gave me some sort of warning look. Shit. I had heard that sometimes the WAGs could be toxic, and there could be some drama. I was not a dramatic person! But a lot of people thought I was cold and distant because I never let myself get close to people. I assumed everyone would abandon me, so what was the point?

  I tried to be the bigger person here. “It’s Stephanie, right? Did uhh…you and Benny make up?”

  “I guess,” she snapped.

  Okkayyy.

  “Stephanie,” Brianna warned.

  Stephanie cut her eyes to me. “Is your marriage even real?”

  I arched an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me?”

  “You know what I mean. Riley’s the biggest whore on the team. Do you honestly expect him to not cheat when he’s on the road?”

  It was something I had been wondering about, but I wasn’t about to admit that to this woman who clearly was taking her issues with her own relationship out on me. Riley might sleep around a lot, and that was totally fine, but I knew how he felt about cheating after what happened with his own parents. We never discussed if this marriage meant we would only sleep with each other. Did he assume I was okay with him hooking up with other women? Fuck, we should have talked about that the day after the wedding when I asked him to divorce me.

  I dug my nails into the palm of my skin in a fist and tried to bite my tongue. I didn’t need to be that woman who caused issues.

  “Stephanie, that’s enough,” Brianna snapped. She gave me a small, sympathetic smile.

  I took that as my leave. “I’m going to get a beer. Anyone want anything?”

  “I’ll come with you,” offered the young Black girl with long braids who was sitting on my other side. I thought her name was Lacey. We walked to the concessions. “Sorry about Stephanie; she really doesn’t like Riley,” she told me.

  “Right.”

  She gave me a small smile. “Riley’s a great guy. I think the other girls slut-shame him because he’s kind of into casual hookups. Not that—shit, am I making it worse?”

  I laughed as I took my beer from the cashier and handed him my money. “Slightly, but I know all of Riley’s history. We’re best friends. I had him first, so suck it bitches!”

  She laughed. “Really? And now you’re married! That’s so cute. You must have been the one that got away.”

  I shrugged.

  Was I?

  We walked back to our seats as the puck was about to drop. Stephanie was now talking to another one of the younger blonde girls; Mia, I think her name was. She seemed nice, so I think she was just trying to let the other woman vent.

  We watched Girard take the first face-off at center ice and groaned together when the puck got turned over to the other team. But the Bulldogs goaltender Metzy showed them the leather and issued the stoppage of play.

  Lacey cheered. “Yeah, baby, that’s how you do it!”

  I smiled at her and sipped my beer. “Yours?” I asked.

  She nodded. “How could you tell?”

  “Just a feeling.”

  We watched Noah Kennedy take the face-off with TJ and Hallsy on his wings. Riley was on the ice with his defensive partner Jonesy lined up next to him. A smile formed across my lips because I knew Riley was sizing up his opponent and trash-talking him. He could be a bit of a chirper, but I thought it was all a part of his strategy to make the other d-man mess up.

  “Seamus was born for this job,” Lacey said next to me. “He’s homegrown, practically grew up in this arena too. I was so stoked when they called him up from the farm team.”

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, genuinely curious.

  I was a Tundra fan because, duh, Minnesota. But I loved hockey, so I was always interested in how the Philly team was doing. Now that I was married to one of their defensemen, I was more invested. Seamus Metz was the latest goaltender to be between the pipes for the team this season. Make that the eighth in rotation. It was not a good look for the team. It hadn’t been a great season, but this young kid was good.

  She beamed. “He’s a hometown boy, so the fans love him.”

  “I bet.”

  The next question died on my lips because I watched Noah dive onto the ice to cover the crease and then get hit in the face with the puck. What was the big center doing blocking shots? That was Riley and Jonesy’s jobs!

  “Fuck!
He better not have a concussion!” I yelled.

  “That was bad!” Lacey agreed.

  We shared a look of concern.

  “Dinah’s gotta be going out of her mind,” she muttered.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “Oh, Noah’s new girlfriend. I heard you’re a writer, so you might know her. Dinah Lace.”

  “Oh! I think we have the same publisher. Petite, dark-hair?”

  Lacey nodded. “Yup, that’s D.”

  I chewed on my lip until the recognition dawned on me. She wrote cute YA romances about hockey. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’ve met before. Noah’s a bit younger than her, huh?”

  Lacey nodded. “Even before those two got together, she always worried about Noah. I’m not sure why she’s not here today.” The younger girl had a guilty look on her face. “I may have actually scared her off.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  She grimaced. “I don’t think she knew that Noah was already in love with her, and I might have spilled the beans on that.”

  I cringed but squeezed her hand in support. I hadn’t met Noah yet, but Riley had kind of mentioned something similar to me. He even told me he had goaded the kid into asking her out by telling him if Noah didn’t, he would. Riley was just trying to push him, though; he wasn’t interested in Dinah.

  The play was still stopped on the ice, so I turned my attention back to what was going on in front of us. It was scary when a player got injured. Especially when they weren’t getting up off the ice. You never wanted to see a guy get hurt, even if you hated his guts.

  TJ Desjardins and the team doctor were trying to get the kid up. Eventually, his six-foot-two frame lifted off the ice, and the doctor held a towel to the side of his face, which was now bleeding. My eyes flicked to Riley on the ice, looking like he was having some words with one of the Pittsburgh Miners. By words, of course, I meant it looked like he was about to drop the gloves. Riley didn’t fight much, but I think as one of the older players on this team, he felt like it was his duty to protect his boys.