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

It felt like an eternity had passed before I pulled away. “I’m sorry,” I offered.

He placed his hands gently on my cheeks and wiped my face with the pads of his calloused thumbs. “Don’t apologize. That dickweed should be the one apologizing. Fi, I’m so sorry. You want me to fight him?”

I slunk out of his arms and took a sip of my drink. “It’s not your fault. And on that last part...maybe.”

He eyed me cautiously and took a sip of his beer. The way he was looking at me sent shivers down my spine. Here’s the thing. Riley was kind of a player, which was fine; he could do what he wanted. But we also lost our virginity to each other in high school. Then proceeded to experiment with each other.

Okay, we were fuck buddies. So sue me, Riley was hot back then and even more so now. Seeing him here looking sexy AF in that suit had me thinking a little too much about all those times in my parents’ basement. Fuck. I shouldn’t have drunk so much whiskey in such a short time. Whiskey makes me horny.

And it was no secret that my best friend was the hottest man I had ever seen. EVER. Which might have explained why Eric didn’t exactly like him.

“So what happened?” he asked.

I sighed and took a huge gulp of my drink. “He said he couldn’t do it but wanted to go back to the way things were.”

Riley narrowed his blue eyes at me. They flashed in anger, but I knew it wasn’t aimed at me. “What the fuck?”

I raised my arms in triumph. “Thank you!”

“What a fucking asshole,” he spat out. “This douche can’t show up to your wedding but expects everything to go back to normal?”

I hung my head. “I can’t even imagine all the cancellations we have to do now. My poor parents.”

He ran a hand down his clean-shaven jaw as if he was thinking really hard about something. He had this weird look in his eye, and it made me feel uncomfortable. “Well...do you still want to get married?” he asked.

I nearly spat out my drink. “To who?”

He smirked that signature crooked grin that I’m sure melted all the girls’ panties. Mine included, but that might have been the whiskey talking.

He pointed a finger at me and then to him. “It’s Vegas, right? So let’s get married.”

“What?!?”

Chapter Two

RILEY

Her green eyes were saucers staring me down. “Are you fucking serious?” she asked incredulously.

I shrugged, but my eyes roamed down her body.

Fi was one of my oldest and best friends, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to her. Fiona Gallagher was fucking FIIINNE. With her slender frame, nice ass, and long, bright red hair, she was my dream girl. Always had been, always would be. Probably until the day I died, if I were being honest. She still made my dick stand at attention, which wasn’t something that was supposed to happen when you thought about your best friend. Even if you lost your virginity to that best friend and had already been inside her multiple times.

We were both so different now, but clearly not older and wiser if I was asking her to marry me on the spot right now. Who does that? Me, apparently.

I watched her, kind of impressed as she downed the rest of her whiskey. “Riley…” she trailed off.

I looked her dead in the eye. “Fiona.”

She glared daggers at me, and I couldn’t help but think about how cute she was when she was mad. I think my thing for fiery redheads started with the woman sitting next to me.

“You’re not serious!” she shrieked.

I shrugged. “What? You were supposed to get married today anyway! What’s the difference if it’s to a different groom?”

“A very big difference. I mean, we need to get a license and figure out—”

I cut her off, “Are you saying yes?”

Her eyes softened, and the hungry way she was looking at me made me think she was also remembering all those times sneaking around in high school. “You would seriously do this? You would marry me right on the spot?” she asked.

“Is that a yes?” I repeated.

She stared at me bemused but then nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. Yes, fine, let’s get married. What the fuck, YOLO, I guess? Is that what the kids are saying these days?”

She was babbling, and it was so cute. We were still the best of friends after all these years, but we rarely got to see each other. Partly because I traveled a lot due to my hockey career, but also because her douchebag ex never liked me. She’d deny it, but I think he actively tried to keep us apart. The day I met him five years ago, I knew he was a little weasel, but she had seemed happy. She deserved happiness, and I guess that’s also why I suggested this foolish plan to marry me instead. I think in the back of my mind, I was hoping if we went through with this, maybe she would fall in love with me in the process. It wasn’t a very good plan or a smart one, but if she really wanted to go through with this, I was going to try my hardest to make her happy.

I stood up off the barstool and bent down to kiss her cheek. “I’ll be back.”

I brushed past a bridesmaid who was heading towards Fi and found her parents with solemn faces talking to the hotel staff. Fi’s dad saw me coming towards them. He was a tall man with fading red hair that was seventy-five percent grey and had been thinning for a long time. My hands started to sweat at the question I was about to ask him. Maybe this was a bad idea. Who proposes to their best friend moments after she got left at the altar? I wiped my hands on my dress