Page 79 of Score Her Heart

“I was afraid that you would come to your senses. I mean, can you blame me? I dated someone else for half a decade, and they left me at the altar. I guess I have a lot of baggage about it.”

“Listen to me,” he urged and grabbed both my hands in his. They looked so petite and small in his big manly hands. “That’s not gonna happen with us. I love you with all my heart and have pretty much felt like that since I was seventeen years old. No woman has ever compared to Fiona Gallagher, and no woman will ever complete me like you do. I fucking love you.”

“I love you too.”

He pulled his hands away from me to take another drink. “Tell me where you are with your book so far?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject.

I made a face and downed the rest of my wine. “I think it’s almost done. I just turned in the final edits.”

His face lit up with a smile, his blue eyes beaming with pride. “Really? That’s awesome!”

“I guess?”

He frowned. “It’s not awesome?”

“I’m not sure yet. ARCs will go out, and then we’ll see if we need to make any changes, and we’ll get pass pages soon.”

“What’s an ARC?” he asked.

I laughed. Sometimes I forgot he wasn’t as well versed in the publishing world. “Advanced Reader Copy. We send them out pre-publishing to get the word out, get reviews out prior to publication.”

“I thought the changes you made were good. I think it will be good. I wish you would stop doubting yourself.”

“Wait, what? Did you read the revised copy?”

He gave me a quizzical look. “Of course I did!”

I brought my hands to my chest and felt my heartbeat fluttering beneath them. My eyes got all misty, and I held everything in to keep from crying. “Aaron, that means the world to me, that you actually cared enough to read the second version. My parents don’t give a shit about my writing career, but the fact that you do, it’s…” I paused to wipe the tear that was now leaking out of my eye and hoped I didn’t mess up my make-up. “It means a lot to me.”

“I know, sweetheart. You’ve always been supportive of my hockey, even back when we were just friends. You work so hard at this, all hours of the night, and your brain’s always racing. I want you to get the recognition you deserve.”

“Goddamnit, did I build you in a factory?”

He laughed really hard at that. “What?”

“You’re like the perfect man. You’re so getting laid tonight.”

“I thought we established this already?” he asked, and he was sporting that crooked, mischievous grin that I loved so much.

I nodded. “Uh huh, but like for sure. Why do you think I wore this dress?”

He eyed me from his position across the table, and I knew from his angle, he got a great view of my cleavage. “It’s a nice dress. It’s definitely working for me.”

I smirked at him and quickly shoveled my last piece of sushi in my mouth. Riley stared back at me with an amused look on his face. I tried not to look him in the eye as I regretted the decision and had to slowly chew my way out of this piece. His shoulders shook, and his hand was over his mouth again. I gave him the finger while I chewed way too slow for my liking.

Finally, I swallowed the rest of my dinner and asked, “Hey, you want to get out of here?”

My husband grinned back at me. “Oh, most definitely.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

RILEY

I was so glad we went to the sushi place that was walking distance from our condo because I felt a fire in my pants, and the only person who was going to put it out was the feisty redhead standing next to me. I had barely unlocked the door to our home before I shoved her up against the wall and kissed her hard on the mouth. My fingers threaded through her long, silky hair, and I moaned when she sighed into the kiss. My tongue slid inside her mouth slowly, and we touched each other cautiously. I pulled back to drink her all in, and she had an annoyed look on her face. That sexy black dress was one hundred percent doing it for me, and she so knew it.

I dipped my head to taste her neck while my hands roamed down her torso and pushed her tits into my hands. I smiled against her skin when I heard her moan some more. “I think we need to get you out of this dress,” I whispered huskily in her ear.

“Uh huh,” she moaned, but I knew her brain was completely shut off right now. “Oh!” she exclaimed when I lifted her up by her hips and wrapped her legs around my waist. I smoothed my hands across her thighs and under her dress. I teased her by fingering the top string of her panties while I continued to kiss down her throat.