Score Her Heart: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (Philadelphia Bulldogs Book 2) by Danica Flynn (best mystery novels of all time .txt) 📗

Ellen was wearing the same wine colored dress as Mrs. Gallagher and Katie. Her blond hair was pulled back into a bun, but her eyebrow raised up in amusement at seeing the two of us. Ellen was another old friend from back home who one hundred percent had a crush on me in the third grade, and I would never let her live it down. We liked to give each other shit. I think Ellen thrived on it.

“Um, what are you doing?” she asked and eyed the two of us suspiciously.

“Going to get a new marriage license,” Fi deadpanned.

Ellen did a double-take and looked back and forth between the two of us. Then she tipped back her head and laughed. “You two? Fi, you’re not going to marry Riley instead!”

I glared at her. “What’s wrong with me?”

Ellen sighed. “Did you agree to this? I can’t believe you would agree to this.”

“Hey! It was my idea,” I protested.

Ellen shook her head at me. “I don’t think I have enough words to explain why this is a bad idea.”

Fi bit her lip and looked up at me. “She has a point. This is impulsive, right?” she asked.

I smirked at her. “Yes, but we’re gonna do this. I triple dog dare ya.”

She smiled back at me. “Well, in that case, we better get that paperwork done!”

There was my girl.

Ellen threw up her hands in exasperation and walked away. She would get over it. She had a point that this was not my best idea, but I wasn’t about to back down now. Fi was supposed to get married today, and she would, just maybe not to the guy she thought.

I walked Fi outside to my rental car and opened the passenger side door for her. “Ugh, you don’t need to do that,” she sighed at me, but I think she was thankful because I had to help her in and make sure her dress didn’t get caught in the door.

I started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

“Are we really doing this?” she finally asked.

“Yeah, we are. Why not?”

“Why would you want to marry me?”

“Because you’re my best friend, and I want you to be happy, and maybe I can make you happy,” I explained.

She looked down at her manicured hands and didn’t say anything else.

I pulled into the Clark County Marriage License Bureau and parked the car. “Fi, if you don’t want to do this, tell me now.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s good. Let’s do this.”

“There’s my girl,” I told her with a smile.

I got out of the car and helped her out of the passenger side, so she didn’t mess up her dress. She held the skirt with both her hands and I put my hand on the small of her back. It was late afternoon, but luckily, there wasn’t a long wait before we could apply for the license. The woman at the counter walked us through all the paperwork, and we showed her our IDs. We had the license in no time, and we were on our way back to the hotel pretty quickly. Driving toward my wedding - and especially my wedding to Fi - felt good. Not just good; it felt right. I was tired of the single life, and if I did this for Fi, I was doing this for real. She might wake up tomorrow and want a divorce, but today, I was going to marry her.

When we got back to the hotel, her bridesmaids ushered her away, and the wedding planner took me to the ballroom to stand at the altar. Only her brother Finnegan was a groomsman; I guess the rest were all Eric’s friends, and they left when he didn’t show up. He mouthed to me, “What the fuck?” but I shrugged.

Before I knew it, the bridesmaids were walking down the aisle, and then Fi herself was standing in front of me. We clasped hands, and even though I had already seen her in her dress, she looked as beautiful as ever. I didn’t understand how anyone could have up and left this woman high and dry on her wedding day.

When the official asked about vows, we looked at each other in horror. We had forgotten about that.

“We have our own,” Fi said. “Improvise,” she mouthed to me.

My lips quirked up into a smirk, and I nodded to her so she could start first.

“This is really weird,” she started. “Today, I was supposed to marry someone else, but he left me. Then you came in like a knight in shining armor and offered to marry me instead. The years have been hard with us being apart, but you have always been my best friend. I’m not sure if I’ll be a good hockey wife, so don’t get mad when I tell you that you played like hot garbage. Let’s do this thing.”

I laughed at that, and Katie handed her the ring. Fi took my hand in hers and slipped the simple wedding band onto my left hand. I looked at her and started my own vows. “Fiona, I know this is weird, and I’m honestly surprised you agreed to this in the first place. Although, I know our moms have been praying for us to get married pretty much our whole lives, so they’re probably stoked. I promise you that I will always support your writing, even though I don’t think there is enough sex in sci-fi books. Come on, girl, let’s get married.”

Katie handed me the ring, and I slipped the matching ring on Fi’s slender left hand. The smile she gave me filled my chest with warmth. No woman ever made me feel like Fiona Gallagher did.

The official smiled at us and said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

I leaned down, wrapped my hands around her neck, and kissed her with all the passion I could muster. I felt familiar sparks