Page 49 of Score Her Heart

I nodded. “She’s not wrong, but I think my relationship with Eric had ended a long time ago. Him not showing up was the final straw. Katie thinks he had been cheating on me the whole time.”

Riley’s jaw clenched, and I noticed his fists did too. I knew how he felt about cheaters after what his dad did to his mom. I felt the anger rolling off of him, so I reached out a hand to calm him down. “Hey, it’s okay. Good thing I didn’t marry him. Good thing I married you instead.”

Riley nodded, but he still seemed cautious and unsure, which was strange to me because I wanted him to lean over and slant his mouth onto mine. There was a torrent of emotions clouding his eyes, and it filled me with dread. I really thought we had made a mistake in getting married, but when I looked at him sitting here bearing his soul to me, something in my heart flipped over. I told myself it was just my lust for his hot bod, but I wasn’t exactly sure about that. Maybe it wasn’t just sexual attraction between us. There were too many years between us for it to just be platonic love between friends. That’s what scared me the most.

He grabbed my hand suddenly and kissed the back of it. Oh, he was so smooth. I think my heart melted at that sweet gesture a little bit. “You know my schedule’s crazy,” he warned.

“I know.”

“We have a road stretch next week, and I’ll be gone all week.”

“I know,” I said again. I had checked his schedule the other day, wanting to know how much we would get to see each other. In a couple months, the season would be over unless they made the playoffs, which I kind of doubted they would.

“A lot of women can’t handle the pressure of having an absent partner. So I would understand if it gets to be too much for you.”

I cocked my head at him and studied his profile for a moment. “Riley, I know the deal, and…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but okay, let’s try this. What did I say when we went to get our marriage license?”

He smirked. “I believe you said YOLO.”

“Do you think anyone will ever buy that we got married?”

He laughed. “I have gotten a lot of questions from my teammates.”

I paused for a second. I knew hockey was important to him and his teammates were important to him, but the idea of being a WAG and having my whole identity based on him rubbed me the wrong way. So it was really strange to me when my mouth opened on its own accord and I asked, “So do you want me to meet your teammates?”

He reached a hand up and pushed my hair out of my face. “Only if you want to.”

“I do.”

He smiled back at me and pulled his hand away. I found myself slightly disappointed when he didn’t kiss me.

“Come on, girl, let’s go get you some new bookcases.”

He did not have to tell me twice.

Chapter Sixteen

RILEY

“What about this one?” I asked Fi.

She peered up at the cherry-wood bookcases that would look perfect in the office. She looked down at her phone, her long fiery-red hair sliding up her back at the movement. My hand itched to wrap around her hair, to feel her in my arms again, but I wasn’t going to press her right now. After our talk today, I was more aware that if this marriage was going to work, I needed to really woo her. So, as much as I had no desire to shop for furniture in the maze that was IKEA on my day off, I did want to spend time with her.

She put a finger on her chin. “I think it could work…”

“Sweetheart, it would fit perfectly!” I argued.

I pretended not to notice the color on her face at the pet-name or the way one corner of her lips upturned at it. She wasn’t as good at hiding her feelings as she thought. My job was to read people, to figure out what the other guy was thinking, so of course, I saw that she was fighting her feelings. Also, she had been my best friend before becoming my wife, so I knew her in and out. Probably better than she knew herself.

She nodded. “Okay, let’s get it. I’m sorry this is probably really boring for you.” She took a picture of the id number on the bookcase and walked away.

I followed her through the maze of the showroom. I caught up to her as she weaved her way through people trying to get to the bottom floor where we could get the boxes for the bookshelves. I reached out and grabbed her hand, smiling to myself as her fingers threaded through mine almost on instinct. Being away from her sucked, but I had a feeling that I was starting to chip through the wall she put up between us.

“You don’t have to buy this for me,” she finally said when we got to the lower level and were searching through the aisles to find the box for the bookshelf.

“You’re so frustrating. Let me take care of you,” I growled while I pushed our cart down the aisle to the row we needed.

I could afford to buy her a nicer bookshelf at a fancier furniture store, but Fi insisted that IKEA could do the job. I wasn’t about to have a pointless argument with my wife over where to buy her bookshelf. Maybe I should have thought about building them into the wall themselves. I didn’t really have time for that project and a half, though. Although I knew Benny and Noah would have helped in a heartbeat, and Noah grew up in the middle of nowhere Winnipeg and was really good with his hands.