He shook my hand firmly and clapped his other one on my shoulder. “Riley!” he greeted.
“Mr. Gallagher.”
“It’s good to see you. Wish it was under better circumstances,” he told me with a grimace.
“Yeah, I heard about that. Listen, I have a solution. It may sound a little reckless, but she agreed so…”
Fi’s mom stopped mid-sentence when she saw me and stepped away from the hotel staff to see what was going on. “Riley?” she asked cautiously.
“So I want to ask for your blessing...” I continued.
“My blessing?” Mr. Gallagher asked with a confused look on his face.
“Riley, what are you saying?” Mrs. Gallagher asked, but she had this sparkle in her eyes. Of course she did. My mom and Fi’s mom had practically been planning our wedding since before we were even born.
I ran a hand down my jaw. “What if I married your daughter instead?”
“Like right now?” Mrs. Gallagher asked, but she was beaming like I had told her she won the lottery. Katherine Gallagher had been praying to the hockey gods for me to marry her daughter our entire lives. No wonder she was on board about this. She wasn’t even questioning my motives here.
Cillian Gallagher was a different story. The middle-aged man scowled at me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why?”
“Why?” I echoed.
“Yes, Riley, why do you want to marry my daughter?” he elaborated and gave me a stern look. “You aren’t exactly the type of guy who wants to be tied down.”
I cringed. That might have been true if you were looking from the outside. I did have a good time with a lot of women who I never saw again. Sometimes my teammates teased me about being the ‘King of Hookups,’ but lately, I’d been thinking about finding someone to share my life with. Someone who didn’t mind my grueling hockey schedule. And maybe sometimes I pictured that woman being tall and having red hair.
I straightened up and squared my shoulders. “Cillian, I could make your daughter very happy.”
He scoffed. “I know she would live comfortably with you, but money’s not everything.”
“I don’t mean because of money. It’s not just about providing for her.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Then explain it to me. Explain it like I’m five.”
“Because she deserves someone who will love her. Not some ass-wipe who can’t even bother to tell her to her face that he didn’t want to go through with this.”
Cillian studied me for a tick, and I started to get nervous. “She agreed to this?”
I nodded. “I know it’s really unconventional, but—”
Katherine cut me off, “Cillian! Give him our blessing! We’ve always wanted Riley to be our son-in-law.”
“Kat,” Cillian began.
“Cillian! It’s finally happening; they finally realized they’re meant to be.”
Cillian gave me a bemused look, but he still didn’t seem like he was exactly on board with this whole thing. He rubbed a hand down his tired face. “Fuck it, whatever. I’m already paying for this wedding.”
“I can—”
He held up his hand. “No! I’ll pay for my daughter’s wedding, and you make sure you make her happy for the rest of your lives. You got me, Riley?”
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
He sighed but shook his head. “Good thing we flew all the way out here to Vegas where you can get a wedding license right away. Go on, get out of here before I try to convince the both of you that this is a bad idea.”
Katherine beamed at me and hugged me tightly. Then she fixed my tie for me and smoothed down my suit jacket. “It’s not a tux, but Fiona won’t care. You look handsome. Welcome to the family, Riley.”
I let her fuss over me for a few minutes, but I eyed my mother, sitting in the ballroom and staring at me in question. I shrugged at her; I was probably going to get an earful about it later, but I didn’t have time for that right now. I said my goodbyes to my future in-laws and walked over to Fi, who was still sitting at the bar. She handed a big diamond engagement ring to a familiar-looking bridesmaid who looked really sorry. Fuck, I didn’t think about rings. We could always do that later.
“Come on, girl, we need to go get a license,” I told her. Luckily, it was Vegas, and there was no waiting period in this city, so I was sure we could get this done quickly. I hoped.
The dark-haired bridesmaid widened her eyes, and that’s when it clicked in my head that she was Eric’s sister, Katie. “You can’t be serious. You’re going to marry Riley?
Fi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, tell your brother to fuck off. Also, please stay. I need you,” she urged the other woman, gripping her hand tightly.
Katie looked me up and down and shook her head in disbelief. I didn’t blame her; this was impulsive, but we were doing this. “What’s your ring size?” Katie asked me.
“My what?”
“You’re not getting married with the rings my brother chose. I’ll get the rings since I know Fi’s style, and you get the license,” she explained.
Oh, I liked this girl. “Ten,” I told her with a crooked grin.
I held up my hand for the bartender. He came over quickly. “Another round?” he asked.
“Nah, can I close out my tab?”
He nodded. While I sorted that out, the two women beside me talked about ring types. I really hadn’t thought about that at all. When I saw Fi in her wedding dress in tears, it broke my heart, and asking her to marry me instead was the first thing that popped in my head to solve it. I was honestly surprised she had agreed to this.
I held out my hand to Fi, which she took, and I helped get her off the barstool without getting caught up in her skirts. She let go of my hand and bunched the bottom of the dress up around her. I put my hand on the small of her back and
