Score Her Heart: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (Philadelphia Bulldogs Book 2)

by Danica Flynn

  “Fuck,” Fi breathed out and leaned her head against my chest. I smiled and kissed her temple.

  She got off the bed to run to the bathroom, and when she came back, she laid on her back in the bed with a sigh. She closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. “I think I’m dead.”

  I laughed and pulled her towards me. “That good, huh?”

  She hit my chest. “Don’t get cocky.”

  I rubbed my chest where she hit me, even though it didn’t really hurt at all. “Too late on that one, sweetheart.”

  She glared at me, but her eyes were smiling. I tilted her face up to me and met her with a tender kiss. Her lips were swollen from all the kisses, but I didn’t care about that; it made me love her even more. I stroked her hair, running my fingers through the copper strands. She purred into me and closed her eyes in post-sex bliss.

  “So, I’ve been thinking,” I began.

  “Don’t do that too hard; you might hurt yourself,” she joked and poked me in the stomach.

  “Shush, don’t be mean.”

  “What are you thinking about?” she asked.

  “We never went on a honeymoon.”

  She nodded. “Can confirm.”

  “We should.”

  “Um…you have a very strict schedule. Don’t you travel again tomorrow?”

  I sighed. “The next day. Fuck, I’m gonna miss you so much.”

  She laughed. “It’s just a couple days. You were right, it’s really hard you being away all the time, but I think I can manage it. It does force me to focus all my efforts on writing when you’re gone, so when you get back, I’m all yours.”

  “Well, since we’re not making the playoffs, once the season is over, we should go on our honeymoon.”

  She poked me square in the chest. “Okay, yeah, let’s plan something. Where should we go?”

  “You pick.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I want to go to Iceland, but that was where I was supposed to go with him. We should go somewhere else.”

  “I always wanted to go to Italy.”

  She smiled. “Us two pasty Irish kids in Italy?”

  “Why not? What ya think?”

  “Are we gonna drink lots of wine and not leave our hotel room?”

  I winked at her. “If that’s what you want to do, I’m game.”

  She twirled her fingers down my arm. “I could get behind that. However, are you planning on going back to St. Paul in the off-season?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, I usually go back. Why?”

  “Oh, that’s why my brother called me in the first place.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Have you been avoiding your mother’s calls again?”

  She looked down at her nails that were apparently very fascinating at the moment and pretended not to hear my question.

  I nudged her shoulder. “Fi, come on. What gives?”

  She sighed. “Ugh, you’re the worst. Now that we’re married, it’s like I’m constantly getting harped on about giving her some grandkids. She already has a grandkid from Finnegan and Emily! Why do I have to give her one? Also, I’m twenty-seven years old; I would like to live my life a little bit.”

  I bit my lip, unsure how to broach the topic with her. When we first got married, it was chaotic and a mess. Now that we were sure this was what we wanted, I thought it was a good idea to talk about it. I would do whatever she wanted; if she wanted kids great, if she didn’t, also great. Ultimately it was her body, so it was most definitely her choice. Although, the thought of having cute little redheaded babies with this woman? I was so on board.

  I looked over and noticed her staring up at me questioningly. “Aaron, what’s on your mind?”

  I sighed and ran my hand down my face. “I know we tabled the kid talk, but should we talk about it?”

  “I guess,” she sighed. “Do you want kids?”

  “It’s your body,” I told her.

  Her face softened at that. “Goddamnit, Aaron, you would give me the whole world if I asked for it, wouldn’t you?”

  “Yes?”

  She sighed again. “If you don’t want kids, I’m cool with that.”

  “What if I do? I mean, I don’t think I’m ready for that this second, but I don’t hate the idea.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me and placed a hand on my chest. “Baby, you won’t be like him, you know that, right? You’d be a great father.”

  “You think so?”

  She nodded. “You put up with my bullshit all the time.”

  I laughed and held her closer. “I don’t know if that qualifies me as father material.”

  “Hmm, maybe not. I don’t think I’m ready either; I want some time to have you all to myself.”

  I smirked at her and flexed my muscles. “Oh yeah, you want this hot bod all for yourself?”

  She laughed at me but smiled. “Yes, exactly that.”

  “But the idea of having a kid with me...you would be on board with it?”

  She nodded with a bright smile, that kind of surprised me. “Yeah, baby. We would have such cute little babies.”

  I leaned over and kissed her softly. “Babies plural?”

  She pushed me away with a laugh. “Maybe…but not yet. Let’s wait on that whole situation.”

  “Whatever you want, sweetheart,” I told her and ran a hand through her copper-colored hair. “But…”

  She eyed me suspiciously. “But what?”

  I twirled her hair around my finger. “I can’t wait to have cute redheaded little babies with you. Someday.”

  She put a hand over mine and gave me a sweet smile. “Someday,” she agreed.

  I beamed at her as I imagined the two of us having a child down the line. I wondered if they would have her feisty personality. I wondered about what it would be like putting those first skates on my baby.

  “Aaron, what’s with the face?” she asked, pulling me out of my daydream.

  “I’m thinking about us having kids. That scares me but also excites me.”

  “Me too. I wasn’t sure I actually wanted kids; I definitely didn’t want them with Eric. Right now, I want to enjoy married life, but one day we’ll have that.”

  “When we’re ready,” I agreed.

  As I watched her bite her lip, I had a feeling “one day” might be a lot sooner than either of us were willing to admit. For now, I was going to enjoy our family just being the two of us.

  I leaned over and slanted my mouth against hers again. I never thought Fiona Gallagher would become my wife, even in my wildest fantasies, but I was so happy it had come to this. One thing was for certain: she was never taking off that wedding ring. I was going to make sure of that for the rest of our lives.

  Epilogue

  RILEY

  TWO MONTHS LATER

  “Hey,” I called into the office and walked in to see my wife hunched over the keyboard, typing away furiously. “You told me to come get you in an hour. We need to get ready.”

  She looked up at me with a pained look. “No!!!! I got to a really crucial part of this draft. Let me just finish this chapter.”

  I chuckled at that. Fi was working on her fourth book, a completely new thing from what she had written before. A romance! I had teased her about it a lot, but I had read some things over her shoulder, and holy fuck, my wife could write a sex scene. Considering the amount of…ahem, ‘research’ she needed to do for this book, I didn’t care what she wrote about.

  The last book in her sci-fi trilogy had done pretty well, even though some people really hated the ending. I forced her to not read the reviews and read them for her to tell her what constructive criticism to look out for in her next book. She got mad at me for doing it because she said that’s what she had an agent for. I didn’t mind doing it, though; I loved that I could support the woman I loved.

  I texted Dinah that we were going to be late and went back into the bedroom to go fix my hair again. I had gotten lazy lately, and now my hair was getting a little longer than I normal
ly liked. I wasn’t sold on cutting it back to the short, cropped style I usually kept though, mostly because my wife liked to pull hair, and it was kind of a huge turn on. Not that I would ever admit it.

  ME: Ugh…I’m sure you understand. Fi’s in a mid writing rage right now.

  DINAH: HAHAHA! Omg, I so do. Don’t worry about being late. I TOTALLY understand.

  “Did you tell on me?” Fi yelled from the office.

  A few minutes later, Fi came into the room and reached up to push my hair out of my face. “So are you growing out your hair to get that hockey flow again?”

  “I haven’t decided.”

  “Hmm,” was all the answer I got as she rummaged through the closet, looking for something to wear.

  Things were going so well with Dinah and Noah that he was moving out of his condo with TJ and moving into Dinah’s place next door. A lot of the guys had raised their eyebrows and thought it was too soon, but Noah had been in love with the woman for two years, so I didn’t think it was soon enough for either of them. They were having a housewarming party to celebrate. Although, I felt like it was more a celebration that both Dinah’s and Fi’s books had been released last week.

  It kind of worked out because after Benny and Stephanie broke up, he needed a place to stay. We had offered him the guest room, which he took us up on until the season officially ended. I think he thought he was cramping our style, though, because as soon as our season was officially over, he high-tailed it back to his abuelos’ place in Boston. When Noah announced he was moving out, TJ offered Benny the now spare room, and he had moved in yesterday. TJ was off to play in the Worlds competition tomorrow, so Benny would get to settle in quietly for the next couple of weeks.

  “What does ‘hmm’ mean?” I asked. I sat on the edge of our bed and didn’t make it a secret that I was watching her change into a pair of skinny jeans and a low-cut blouse that showed off her assets.

  “I kind of like it,” is all she said. For a woman who wrote for a living, she sure didn’t give me a lot of words to work with.

  I ran a hand through my hair again. It was a bit too long for me, but if she liked it, I was thinking about keeping it.

  I patted the box in the pocket of my jacket and contemplated giving it to her now. It felt like an anchor weighing me down, and I was still unsure if she would take what was inside or not. I glanced over at her brushing out her red hair and decided to wait until after the party.

  I stood up from the bed and walked over to her, dropping a quick kiss on the top of her head. “Are you almost ready?”

  She nodded. “Come on, let’s go.”

  The drive was short, but I fidgeted the whole time, wondering if Fi would actually take the engagement ring I bought her. We never were engaged, but that didn’t mean she didn’t deserve a nice ring. But she still wouldn’t let me buy her a new wedding band, so maybe I could get away with this. If she noticed my anxiety, she didn’t say anything about it, and as soon as we got to Dinah and Noah’s, I was off the hook. I smiled and watched the two women hug each other tightly while I slunk away into the kitchen to find Noah and TJ.

  “Hey, man!” Noah greeted me, and we fist pumped. TJ and I did the whole head nod thing.

  “How was Italy?” TJ asked.

  “You see much outside of the room?” Noah joked.

  I slid my thumb across my bottom lip and gave them a knowing look. They both erupted into laughs, and I swore Fi heard because I felt her glare from across the room. I noticed TJ’s gaze move across to the dining room, and I turned to see Benny failing really hard to talk to a tall, curvy woman with black hair. She had her arms crossed and a look on her face that said, “Don’t fuck with me.” She looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place her. I winced when she threw her drink in his face.

  Holy fuck, what did the big guy say to her?

  “Sorry,” TJ offered to Noah.

  I cocked my head at both of them in confusion.

  “You remember my sister, right?” TJ asked.

  I nodded. Benny and Roxanne Desjardins’ fights were the stuff of legends. She usually had bleached blond hair that fell to her waist, but now she was sporting black hair shorter than normal, so I hadn’t recognized her at first. The darker hair made her look more like her twin. It suited her.

  “I didn’t recognize her without the blond hair. What’s she doing in town?” I asked.

  “Just moved here. Working for the Bulldogs,” TJ explained.

  “Huh,” was all that came out of my mouth, and Noah raised his eyebrows playfully. TJ sighed and excused himself to go talk to his sister, who looked like she was about to storm out of here.

  “They’re so gonna bone this summer,” Noah commented and handed me a beer.

  “You think? Wait, isn’t she gay?” I asked and furrowed my brow. I was pretty sure that TJ had mentioned she had a live-in girlfriend. I also thought that was one of the reasons she told Benny often to “dream on.” She didn’t like men, right?

  “No, Rox is bisexual,” Noah corrected me.

  “Huh.”

  I looked across the room at my wife and his girlfriend still entrenched in conversation. I was glad those two had each other and had this almost unshakeable bond. Fi had that effect on people, even if she thought everyone abandoned her. I was still mad at myself that our bond was shaken when I left for the NHL and it made her feel like I had abandoned her.

  She caught my gaze and excused herself from Dinah to come over to us in the kitchen. Noah leaned down slightly to greet her with a hug.

  “Oh, Noah, I’m so happy for you,” she blurted out as soon as he ended the hug. I put an arm around her waist and pulled her towards me with a smile. “I’m really glad you and D sorted everything out.”

  Noah smiled at her. “I think I have you and whiskey to thank for helping us figure it out.”

  “We’re happy for you, man,” I agreed and clapped him on the back.

  Noah nodded, and I wanted to tease him about the tinge of red that crept up across his face, but then Dinah appeared beside him. Their height difference was kind of comical, but the way they looked at each other was how I thought Fi and I looked at each other. So blissfully in love. I wasn’t lying when I said I was happy for them. Everyone deserved love, and I was glad that I had found it with my best and first friend.

  We stayed at Dinah and Noah’s for a while, talking with all my teammates and their significant others. I also got to meet a few of Dinah’s work friends and some other publishing people who Fi also knew.

  When we got back home, I was exhausted, and so was Fi, as indicated by the way she flopped on our bed with her shoes still on. Gross. Sometimes I thought she did things like that to annoy me. I pulled the boots off her feet and threw them onto the floor.

  She smiled up at me in a way that made my insides warm. I felt the ring box in the pocket of my jacket burning a hole there.

  “So what’s the deal with Benny and TJ’s sister Rox?” she asked suddenly.

  I shook my head. “Those two do not get along.”

  She had a wicked smile on her face. “Maybe they need to bang it out and solve that.”

  I laughed. “I don’t disagree with you, sweetheart, but I think she’d rather make-out with a skunk.”

  “Not with the way she was looking at him tonight.”

  “She looked like she wanted to punch him in the dick like she always does,” I argued.

  Fi raised an eyebrow. “No, she looked like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to punch him or suck his dick. They’re gonna fuck!”

  I laughed. Her and D had definitely gotten into the sauce a little bit tonight. “God, I hope you’re right because those two living together is gonna be a trip.”

  “You know they’re gonna have a knockdown fight and fuck!”

  I shook my head at her. “How drunk are you?”

  She held her thumb and finger together but gave me a sly smile. “Just a bit.”

  I grinned at her and laughed.

&nbs
p; Fi laughed with me. “Anyway, why are you still wearing your jacket?”

  “What?” I asked.

  “What’s with you tonight? You look like you need to tell me something.”

  I wanted to sigh at her. I should have known keeping things from her was too much of a difficult task. She knew me a little too well.

  I reached into my jacket pocket and placed the small black box into her hands. “Here. I wanted to give you something.”

  She looked confused and opened the box to see the ring inside. “Aaron, what the fuck is this?”

  I smiled but ran a hand through my too-long hair. “Um…so we did all of this backward, and I never got you an engagement ring.”

  She stared down at the silver ring in the box with the petite diamond, vines wrapping around it, and little emerald accents. “Aaron, you…why…I really don’t need this.”

  I took the ring out of the box and pulled her left hand into mine. I slid the new ring onto her finger where her wedding band was already secured. “I know, but I wanted you to have it. You wouldn’t let me buy you a nicer wedding band, so let me give you the engagement ring I should have given you a long time ago.”

  Her eyes were getting misty, and I pulled her into my lap to kiss her gently. She curled her head into my neck. “Oh, Aaron. I really love it. Is that bad? I shouldn’t be into fancy jewelry like this.”

  I smirked and kissed the top of her head. “I knew you would.”

  “You’re perfect.”

  I smiled at her. “No, you’re perfect.”

  “Ew. Are we one of those couples now?”

  “Afraid so, sweetheart.”

  She beamed at me and then bit her lip. “So, I’ve been thinking.”

  “Yeah?”

  “What if after I get this romance book published, we try.”

  I furrowed my brow at her. “Try what?”

  “Aaron...for a baby,” she explained slowly, enunciating all her words.

  “Oh! Really?” I asked in surprise. I hadn’t thought she would want to try so soon. I thought it would have been a couple years before we talked about kids again.