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

be on her own. Nobody ever got to tell Fiona Gallagher what to do, not even me, her husband. Once we got settled on the plane, she dived into writing again. I was still tired, so I ended up falling asleep for a little bit. I woke to the sound of her sighing in frustration.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“I think this is awful,” she explained.

I frowned. “I thought you figured out the problems yesterday?”

She gripped a pen in her hand angrily. “Ugh! Everything I write is a pile of garbage. Why did I even try to do this? It’s not like I am fooling anyone here!”

“I think maybe you could use a break. Take a nap. We still have a couple hours left until we get home,” I suggested.

I totally expected her to blow up on me, but she saved her doc and shut the lid to her laptop. She reached down below the seat in front of her and put it away. “Maybe you’re right,” she sighed.

“C’mere,” I ordered.

I pushed the armrest between us up and pulled her into my chest, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. Her head rested on me, and I stroked her hair until she fell asleep. She claimed she didn’t sleep on planes, but I called bullshit. Or else she was really tired. I couldn’t remember what time she had climbed into bed last night, but it had been pretty late, and we got preoccupied for a while. I was not sorry about that.

The flight attendant walked by asking if we wanted any drinks, and she smiled as I whispered, trying not to wake Fi. She eyed the ring on my hand and then looked at Fi. “Vegas wedding?” she asked.

I nodded and absent-mindedly continued to stroke Fi’s vibrant red hair.

She smiled. “You two look cute together. I hope it works out.”

Me too. I hoped that as soon as we landed in Philly, my new wife wouldn’t throw it all away and decide a divorce was the right course of action for us. I wanted forever with this woman, but I didn’t know how to prove that to her.

As soon as we landed in Philly, I felt something shift between us. The tension was in the air again. Just like on the morning after our wedding when she ambushed me into asking for a divorce. It was like the past couple days had been a vacation from real life, and now we had to face the consequences that we were married. There were a lot of logistics to work out, and I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with her yet. I had already tried about the living arrangements, and she nearly bit my head off about that.

She was distant and texting on her phone as we waited for our bags to come around the carousel. When she looked up from her phone, she asked, “So what’s your schedule like this week?”

I grimaced and scratched my face. “Practice today. We travel tomorrow, game in Minnesota Tuesday, back here for a home game on Thursday, off Friday, but I have another home game on Saturday.”

“Oh.”

“Will you come to the game on Saturday?” I asked before thinking about it.

She eyed me cautiously. “You want me to?”

“It would be nice if you could come to my game.”

She put her phone away. “I don’t know if I can. I’m still on deadline and have a lot of work to do.”

I nodded, understanding her reasons even if I didn’t like them.

“Well…how about next Saturday night? My teammates Noah and TJ usually have people over.”

“Maybe.”

Our bags finally came around on the carousel, and I grabbed hers for her. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home? It’s not that far.”

She shook her head and waved me off. “It’s fine; Katie’s coming to get me.”

“Okay…so I guess we’ll plan for something Thursday or Friday?” I asked, hopeful that I wouldn’t come back from Minnesota with divorce papers waiting for me in the mail.

She nodded. “Sure.” She had a smile on her face, but I knew her well enough to know it was a smile she reserved for her mom. She was faking it, and I couldn’t understand why.

“I can wait with you,” I offered while we walked outside to the pick-up area.

“Oh, Riley, that’s sweet, but you don’t have to do that.”

I nodded. She seemed firm on this, and I didn’t want to push it. I turned to her and snaked my hands up behind her neck, sliding one hand to grip her there as if to say she was mine. She looked at me like I had knocked the wind out of her, and then I leaned down to plant a long and lingering kiss on her lips.

I rested my forehead against hers when I pulled away. “I wasn’t lying, Fi. I want this marriage to work.”

“O-okay,” she stuttered out but avoided meeting my eyes.

I brushed my hand over her cheek and grasped her jaw in my hand. I kissed her again, and I smiled against her lips when I felt her hand slide to the back of my neck. She lightly stroked my short blond hair while we kissed goodbye.

“See you later, okay, sweetheart?”

She nodded but stared at me wordlessly as I walked away. A part of me wanted to stay with her and make sure Katie got there okay, but I didn’t want to be late for practice. Once I got home, all I wanted to do was drop down into my bed and take the longest nap ever, but I had to get to practice, and since Benny lived close by, he swung by to take me to the rink.

“DUDE!” he exclaimed when he saw my wedding ring glint under the light in my kitchen. “You seriously got married?”

I nodded but fidgeted with the wedding band around my finger. I hadn’t taken it off since Fi slipped it on my finger a couple days ago. I