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

“Help me pick,” he urged. He held up the red tie to his crisp white dress shirt and then the blue striped one.

I took the blue one in my hands and put it up against his chest. “Blue,” I said and handed it back to him with a yawn. “Blue’s your color. It brings out your eyes.”

“I made coffee. Wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up, or I would have made you breakfast,” he told me.

My heart sang in my chest at that. This big strong man trying to take care of me was confusing to me. “Wait, you cook?” I asked, astonished.

He furrowed his brow at me. “Yeah…had to learn to be on my own. Truth be told, Benny taught me.”

“Really?”

“He’s a good cook.”

I stretched my arms over my head and yawned again. I pretended not to notice his crystal blue eyes gazing at my chest. I adjusted my tank top, as it had been knocked askew during sleep, and my tits were practically falling out of it. He was a man, so of course, he noticed. Not that there was that much to notice; I wasn’t exactly top-heavy.

“I guess it’s time to tell you that marrying me was a bad decision because I’m not really good at cooking.”

He laughed. “Oh, I remember home ec.”

I frowned. “Sometimes, I forget how much you know about me. Sometimes it’s nice, but other times, I wish you would forget.”

“Go get your coffee. You seem grumpy this morning.”

He wasn’t wrong about that.

I walked out of the room and into the sparkling kitchen, with its stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. I was seriously out of my element when it came to his man. At the same time, I felt a sense of pride swell in my chest.

I spent many years cheering Riley on in the stands when we were kids. Especially after his dad left and my mom helped take him to his hockey games while his single-mother worked two jobs to provide. I admired our moms for their fierce friendship and the way my parents had helped out Paula. No wonder they were pleased when Riley stepped in and married me. He had already been a part of the family for a long time. Now it was official.

At least until he realized that this was all a mistake and decided to divorce me. I wouldn’t blame him when he finally came to his senses. He left my life for hockey before, and I couldn’t imagine he wanted me like this in his life permanently. It was only a matter of time.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and found a greek yogurt in his fridge, then parked myself on one of the barstools at the island. I put my coffee cup down when Riley walked into the kitchen. He bent over to land a soft and tender kiss on my lips. I hadn’t been expecting that, but I melted into the feeling of his soft lips gently pressed up against mine. Now I regretted being so tired last night and not having my way with him before he was back on the road.

“I’ve got to get going,” he apologized.

I waved a hand at him. “Go on, then.”

He looked around at all the boxes in his condo and looked at me again. Then he went into a drawer in the kitchen and handed me a single key. “Here. You need your own key now.”

I stared him down. “What makes you think I’m actually going to leave this place? I’ve got a lot of stuff to do.”

He shook his head. “Don’t hole yourself up while I’m gone, okay? Also, I’m sorry to leave you in the lurch to unpack everything by yourself.”

“It’s fine; you helped enough. It’s just a couple days. I’ll be fine. Go, before you’re late.”

“We can go get you some new bookshelves when I get back, okay?”

I waved him off again. “Go, you’re gonna be late.”

His hand cupped my face, and I felt the cold metal of his wedding ring against my cheek as he kissed me again. Honestly, if this was what being married to him was going to be like, I thought maybe I could get used to it. The deep kisses goodbye were some of the best kisses I had ever received. When he pulled away and left the condo, I felt an odd pang in my heart. I didn’t know what to make of it.

Riley being away for his job didn’t really bother me all that much. I was kind of a recluse, so I liked being alone. But him being on the road being surrounded by women at bars who were more beautiful than me did have me a little worried. I mean, was it a thing that athletes cheated on their wives while they were on the road? Was that something we should have talked about? I knew how he felt about cheaters, but I was still scared to ask. I also didn’t know why I was so worried when I was the one who asked for a divorce, and Riley had convinced me to give this marriage a chance.

Maybe it was finding that thong under my bed yesterday that was making me feel this way. It also made me wonder if that had been the first time Eric had someone else in our bed. It made my skin crawl, so I had to busy myself with unpacking all of my things. I didn’t want to think about it because, in the back of my mind, it explained how Eric didn’t realize that we hadn’t had sex in three months.

I was honestly surprised I hadn’t heard from Eric like at all. He must have come home yesterday surprised to see I had moved all my things out and left the apartment to him. I was still mad about it because it had been my apartment in the first place, but I couldn’t stay there. Not