Score Her Heart: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (Philadelphia Bulldogs Book 2) by Danica Flynn (free novels .TXT) 📕

I grimaced. “I convinced her to give it a shot. Was that stupid?”

He had a shocked look on his face. “Oh my God. How long have you been in love with her?”

I ran a hand down my face. I really didn’t want to be having this conversation with him.

Fi eyed me from across the room, and I knew she was reading my discomfort. She walked over to us with two plates in her hands and shoved one at me.

“Oy! Stop harassing my husband, you dick,” she said to her brother.

Finnegan laughed and shook his head. “I don’t understand you two.”

She ignored him and looked at me. “Come on, let’s go sit and eat.”

Finnegan shook his head and walked away while I followed Fi to a table in confusion. Ellen stared me down with an amused look, but I nodded my head at her. I knew this was such a weird situation, but Fi was taking it like a champ, snapping at anyone who questioned why we got married and defending me to anyone that said something even slightly rude. I gripped her thigh underneath the table whenever she needed to be told to calm down.

“How’s the team looking?” Ellen asked me.

“Fucking awful,” Fi answered for me.

I shot her an amused look. She shrugged and held her hands up. I rubbed my jaw, feeling the raw stubble of my facial hair starting to grow out. “Well…she’s not wrong,” I admitted.

“But you have that new coach and that hot new goalie, right?” Ellen asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, Metzy’s hot right now. We'll have to take it game by game.”

Ellen made a face at me. “Are you just gonna give me media answers or real answers?”

I laughed and took a sip of my coffee. “You know the answer to that.”

She scoffed. “You two are the worst. I can’t believe you actually went through with this sham of a marriage.”

“Thank you oh so much, Ellen,” Fi snarled.

I hid my smile behind my hand, but I put my arm around her shoulder. “Play nice, Fi,” I whispered into her ear and gave her a gentle kiss on the neck.

Ellen and Fi had a weird relationship. They fought a lot, and it was almost like they were more sisters than friends. I guess I understood Ellen’s concerns, but I didn’t want this to be a sham of a marriage. I wanted something real.

Little by little, the guests started filtering out and saying goodbye to Fi, and soon we were free from all the hassles of wedding stuff. When we got back to the suite, she kicked off her shoes and dropped herself onto the couch in the living room.

“I am so hungover. I think I’m gonna take a nap,” she told me.

I sat on the couch next to her, pulled her head into my lap, and stroked her hair. “Okay, so when are you going back to Philly?”

She groaned and sat up. “Right, I forgot. I have to deal with all the cancellation shit. When were you planning to go back?”

“My flight’s tonight, but I can reschedule it.”

“Oh, Riley, no. When do you need to be at the airport?”

I waved her off. “It’s fine; I’ll reschedule. I can go back tomorrow; I have a practice that I need to be at.”

She bit her lip but got up to pull her computer out of her bag on the floor. She spent the next couple of hours dealing with canceling everything while I looked up flights for us to go back to Philly tomorrow. I changed my flight and then ordered a seat next to mine going home so she could come along with me.

“Oh my God, finally!” she said after hanging up the phone. “Now, I need to book a flight back to Philly.” She looked down at her phone, and I knew by the scowl that she saw the email I sent her. “Did you...ugh, you did not buy me a flight home!”

“Yes…” I trailed off. “You were busy. Isn’t that what husbands are supposed to do?”

She leaned against me. “Thank you. This has been a nightmare.”

I pulled her into my side and kissed the top of her head. “I know. At least we have the rest of the day to ourselves. You should take that nap.”

“So…you never answered my question,” she said, giving me a sly look.

“Huh?”

“This morning, I said you looked like you wanted to throw me on the counter and fuck my brains out. Did you?”

Uhh…yes. Yes, I very much wanted to do that. Now I very much wanted to fuck her again here on the couch, on the kitchen table, in the shower, and then finally in the bed.

“Riley?”

I gulped. “Yes.”

She laughed. “Knew it!”

“Tease.”

She smirked at me but stood up from the couch and walked over in front of the kitchen table. She stood with her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow.

“Then fucking do it,” she dared.

I stared at her for what felt like an entire minute. “What?”

She crooked her finger at me. “What, you don’t want to fuck me? You don’t want to shove me up on this table and fuck me like a wild animal?”

I curled my hand into fists at her crass words and exhaled. I stood up from the couch and walked across the room to where she stood. She was egging me on, but I was going to call her bluff. I wrapped one hand around the back of her neck, and the other went to her hand and placed it right on the straining zipper of my jeans. Then I kissed her hard. I smiled against her skin, traveling down her jaw and onto the side of her neck while she massaged me over my jeans.

“Is this what you want?” I whispered against her ear.

“Riley,” she whispered.

“I think the question is, do you want me to fuck you?”

“You know you didn’t have to marry me if you just wanted to fuck,” she huffed.

“Um, you kind of had a long term boyfriend.”

“True, who I