Page 3 of Score Her Heart

ME: Wedding’s off. Don’t come. I’m sorry, I know it was hard for you to get here with your hockey schedule.

RILEY: Where are you?

ME: Bar.

I put my head in my hands and finished off my second glass of whiskey. I put my phone down and decided answering all those texts was not what I was going to do right now. When I pulled my hands away, my eyeliner was smudged on my hand, along with some wetness. Great, I was the crying bride left at the altar drinking alone at the bar.

Way to be a cliche, Fiona!

A glass of water and another whiskey was placed in front of me. “You want to start a tab?” the bartender asked me.

Before I could answer, a deep voice from behind me said, “Yeah, put it on my card.”

I turned to take in Riley in all his glory. He looked great in a suit, his broad shoulders and thick biceps filling it out nicely. His blond hair was tousled in that ‘I couldn’t care less’ style that meant he spent a long time on it. I’d only seen him a few times this year; with his professional hockey career and my writing career, we were both traveling a lot and rarely in the same city. But damn, he looked good today, filling out that suit tailored specifically for him. I felt heat pool in my lower belly, but maybe it was just from all the whiskey. I definitely wasn’t remembering all those times in high school when Riley’s mouth had been on mine. Definitely not.

Riley slid onto the stool next to me and ordered a beer. When the bartender handed him the bottle, that’s when he turned to me and pulled me into a big bear hug. Maybe that’s all I needed because I relaxed into his strong arms, leaning my face against his hard chest. But then I started crying again. To his credit, Riley was a good sport who let me cry on his shoulder as he rubbed my back soothingly.

It felt like an eternity had passed before I pulled away. “I’m sorry,” I offered.

He placed his hands gently on my cheeks and wiped my face with the pads of his calloused thumbs. “Don’t apologize. That dickweed should be the one apologizing. Fi, I’m so sorry. You want me to fight him?”

I slunk out of his arms and took a sip of my drink. “It’s not your fault. And on that last part...maybe.”

He eyed me cautiously and took a sip of his beer. The way he was looking at me sent shivers down my spine. Here’s the thing. Riley was kind of a player, which was fine; he could do what he wanted. But we also lost our virginity to each other in high school. Then proceeded to experiment with each other.

Okay, we were fuck buddies. So sue me, Riley was hot back then and even more so now. Seeing him here looking sexy AF in that suit had me thinking a little too much about all those times in my parents’ basement. Fuck. I shouldn’t have drunk so much whiskey in such a short time. Whiskey makes me horny.

And it was no secret that my best friend was the hottest man I had ever seen. EVER. Which might have explained why Eric didn’t exactly like him.

“So what happened?” he asked.

I sighed and took a huge gulp of my drink. “He said he couldn’t do it but wanted to go back to the way things were.”

Riley narrowed his blue eyes at me. They flashed in anger, but I knew it wasn’t aimed at me. “What the fuck?”

I raised my arms in triumph. “Thank you!”

“What a fucking asshole,” he spat out. “This douche can’t show up to your wedding but expects everything to go back to normal?”

I hung my head. “I can’t even imagine all the cancellations we have to do now. My poor parents.”

He ran a hand down his clean-shaven jaw as if he was thinking really hard about something. He had this weird look in his eye, and it made me feel uncomfortable. “Well...do you still want to get married?” he asked.

I nearly spat out my drink. “To who?”

He smirked that signature crooked grin that I’m sure melted all the girls’ panties. Mine included, but that might have been the whiskey talking.

He pointed a finger at me and then to him. “It’s Vegas, right? So let’s get married.”

“What?!?”

Chapter Two

RILEY

Her green eyes were saucers staring me down. “Are you fucking serious?” she asked incredulously.

I shrugged, but my eyes roamed down her body.