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

“I never said I didn’t want to continue a relat—”

“You really think we would continue on after you left me, completely embarrassed me in front of everyone? You really thought I would come back to you?”

Again, silence.

“Did you ever even love me? I mean, fuck, Eric, we haven’t had sex in three months!”

“Wait…really?” he asked, with a hint of confusion in his voice. That sealed the deal; he hadn’t noticed either. How did I ever think I could have had a happy life with this man?

“Oh my God, if you didn’t notice, clearly something was wrong. You know what? I’m glad this happened. I’m glad to know that this never would have worked out between us anyway. Have a nice life!”

“Answer me this first. Did you sleep with him?”

“Who?”

“Riley!”

“Yeah…I married him. That’s kind of what people do on their wedding night.”

He sighed on the other line. “No, I mean before.”

“Are you asking me if I cheated on you? No. What do you take me for?”

“You didn’t?” he asked. He sounded surprised, like he didn’t believe me. I think that hurt more than him leaving me at the altar.

“Not while we were together. And it’s not any of your business who I fucked before we got together, like it’s not your business now.”

“So you did have sex with him? I knew it.”

“It was in high school!” I argued. “We lost our virginity to each other. What, am I supposed to be jealous of every girl you slept with before you met me? I don’t know why I’m still talking to you.”

He was silent on the other line for a moment, and I contemplated hanging up on him. I was steaming mad. I wanted to cry. Who the fuck did he think he was? Accusing me of cheating on him when he left me on what was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives. Now, I was married to my best friend, who I really shouldn’t have married, but he was kind and gentle, and he wanted to see if we could make something real out of this marriage. My life had spiraled out of control in the span of twenty-four hours.

“Do you hate me?” he finally asked.

I had to be honest with him. “A little bit,” I admitted. “Can you blame me?”

He sighed again. “No, I guess I can’t. Katie gave me hell for what I did. I shouldn’t have asked you to marry me if I was gonna back out.”

“If you didn’t want that, you should have never asked,” I snapped.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he finally admitted.

“Good. Have a nice life!”

“I’ll be out of the apartment in a couple days, earlier if I can,” he told me and then promptly hung up. What a dick.

I wanted to chuck my phone across the room. I had gotten closure, sure, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. Being left on your wedding day like that sucked, and now I was even more confused because I immediately rebounded with Riley!

Maybe that was the real reason I had asked him for the divorce. Not that I couldn’t be happy with him, because maybe in time we could find happiness in each other. I think the real reason I wanted to get a divorce was because it felt like a rebound, and I knew it would only end in heartbreak. Most of all, I was afraid of losing my best friend if this trial marriage of ours didn’t work out.

I heard footsteps in the bedroom, and the door creaked open. Riley stood in the doorway, clad in a pair of jeans now, but no shirt. His eyebrow was raised, and his face was scrunched up in confusion. I set my phone down on the counter and ran a shaky hand over my face. Riley crossed the room towards me and put his hands on my shoulders.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

I shook my head and waved him off. “I’m sorry, did I wake you? Just got into a fight with my ex, but it’s fine.”

“Yeah…I heard you yelling a lot. Everything okay?”

I shook my head, and he pulled me towards his naked chest. I don’t know what it was about that move of his, but it seemed to relax me. I sighed into him and rested my head there. I was comforted by the thump-thump-thump of his heartbeat underneath me.

“What happened?” he asked while he stroked my hair.

I sighed and pulled back so I could look up at him. “We fought, he thinks you and I have been fucking the whole time anyway, but he said he’d get out of my apartment in a couple days.”

Riley frowned at that. “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that…”

“My apartment?”

He nodded but looked down at the floor. “Yeah. I mean...should you come move in with me now?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I like my place in Fishtown.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I know, but I have a big condo in Old City.”

I looked at him sternly. “I would like to keep my own place.” I left off the part where I said, “In case we decide to get divorced anyway” but from the look on his face, I think he knew that was what I was thinking about.

“Did you get any work done?” he asked, changing the subject.

I sighed again. “Not really. I’m stuck on this book. I think I need to completely rewrite it.”

He checked his watch. “Why don’t you let me take you to dinner tonight? We have an early flight tomorrow, so write for another hour, and we’ll go at seven, okay?” I opened my mouth to protest, but he put a finger on my lips. “For once in your life, Fi, don’t argue with me.”

Normally I would have argued some more, but something inside of me let it go. “Okay, sure.”

Chapter Six

RILEY

I was honestly surprised she agreed to dinner, so I wasn’t going to try to push the whole