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

I really needed to finish this final chapter so I had time to proofread it and send it off to my publisher. I ended up banging out the words, but I didn’t really like it. I knew I needed to come at it with fresh eyes in the morning, so I closed my laptop and headed into the bedroom for some much-needed rest.

Sliding into the sheets of Riley’s big bed felt oddly cold without his warm body there beside me. We had spent three whole days being married and sharing a bed together, and I had gotten used to him being next to me. There was a pang in my chest at being without him, and as I was nodding off into dreamland, I realized it was because I missed him. Good God, it hadn’t even been a full day. What was wrong with me?

Chapter Twelve

RILEY

As soon as I got on the plane heading to Minnesota, of all places, my heart yearned for Fi. I hated that I had to leave her all alone in my condo for the next couple days. We had only been married for a couple days, and we didn’t really get to talk about the expectations.

I wanted this to work because I had loved her since I was a teen, and I didn’t want to let her go again. I was also slightly worried that I would get back from the road to find she had disappeared, leaving me with divorce papers. I felt like we clicked so perfectly. Being married to that woman seemed right to me. Why else had she agreed to marry me so quickly? I wanted to text her and tell her I missed her already, but that seemed so desperate. Fiona was like a stray cat, she spooked easily, and I wanted to coax her inside and take care of her. If she let me.

I put my earbuds in and cracked open the pages of her second book from where I had bookmarked it yesterday. I had to kind of look up what happened in the first book because I read it so long ago that I forgot what happened. I had read the very first draft of it when she was still in college, so I couldn’t remember what had changed.

I was amazed at how much she had improved in her writing. I beamed, thinking about how proud I was of her and all she had accomplished. It made me grit my teeth more that her family and the man she was supposed to marry instead of me had been wholly unsupportive of her work. I didn’t get it. Fi was amazing, and she only quit her job because that first book sold so well.

I must have been absent-mindedly rubbing the ring on my left hand because Girard, our captain, nudged my shoulder. “What’s with you?” he asked.

I marked my page in the book and turned to him. “Huh?” I asked.

G cocked his head at me. “Ri, is that a wedding ring?” he asked, and his eyes got wide.

I sighed. It wasn’t like I was planning on keeping it a secret. Benny already knew, but he wasn’t a big gossip and knew when to keep things close to the vest. G was like the dad of the team, even though he was only a few years older than me. I felt like he was going to berate me for my weird marriage. I hadn’t even told my agent yet because I knew what he was going to say, that I should have gotten a prenup, but I was definitely not going to have that conversation with Fi. If she really wanted to move forward with the divorce, she could have whatever she wanted from me. But I knew her, and I knew she wouldn’t take any of my money. She only moved in with me because her ex basically refused to move out of her apartment.

I ran a hand through my hair and twisted the ring around on my finger again. “Um, yeah, it is,” I confessed.

“I didn’t even know you were engaged,” he commented.

“Uh…I wasn’t,” I admitted.

He eyed me with a confused look and raised both of his eyebrows. “Okay, you need to explain right now.”

I sighed and told him the whole story. When I was done, he was looking at me as if I was certifiable. “Don’t judge me!” I exclaimed.

G pursed his lips. “So let me get this straight. You married your best friend, she asked for a divorce, but now you have a couple of months to convince her that you should stay married?”

I hung my head. “You know, when you say it out loud, it sounds even worse.”

He chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder. “What’s this woman like? I’ve never seen you hung up on someone before.” He turned around in his seat to call over to Hallsy, who sat behind us. “Yo, Hallsy, I owe you twenty bucks.”

“For what?” Hallsy asked, and I looked up at him, standing up and leaning over my seat.

Hallsy was a dark-skinned Black guy from Canada and probably one of the best forwards I had ever skated alongside. Actually, there were a lot of amazing players on this team, but we weren’t gelling right this season. Hallsy’s dark brown eyes sparkled with mirth at the current conversation.

G grinned. “Our boy Riley over here has gone and fallen in love!”

Hallsy laughed, and his dark corkscrew coiled hair bounced with the motion. “Ooh, I knew they would get you soon! TJ’s next!”

“HARD PASS!” TJ yelled from a couple seats in front of us.

I punched G lightly in the shoulder, but I grinned. “Dicks!” I swore at them.

G dramatically rubbed his shoulder, but I knew it didn’t hurt. “You’re gonna tell me all about her,” he demanded.

I held up my book. “She’s fiercely private. Now let me read my wife’s book in peace.”

I laughed at his confused expression and spent the rest of the