Chasing Stanley by Deirdre Martin Read Free Book Online Page A

used to take the subway so he could mingle with his peeps. He was always late—till I started fining him. Do not make the same mistake.”
    â€œI won’t,” Jason promised.
    The banter was easy through dinner, with Ty and Michael asking him questions about growing up in North Dakota and, of course, about playing for the Mosquitoes. It wasn’t until dessert came (some kind of cheese fritter drenched in honey) that they got down to the crux of the matter.
    â€œYou’ve got a reputation as a hard worker out on the ice,” said Ty. “Which is good, because we’re a team that prides itself on excellence.” He took a sip of sambuca. “Want to know why I won three Cups in St. Louis and two here in New York?”
    Jason hated being put on the spot this way, but he had no choice but to respond. “Skill. Hard work. Dedication. A burning desire to win.”
    Ty nodded approvingly. “What else?”
    Jason drew a blank. He felt like a dolt.
    Ty nudged Michael in the ribs. “Tell him what else.”
    â€œDiscipline. In all areas of your life, hockey has to come first. Always. Before partying, before hanging out with your friends, before everything. Capisce? ”
    â€œI hear you,” said Jason, squirming with irritation. He’d spent the first sixteen years of his life dreaming of making it to the Big Apple, and now they were telling him to live like a monk?
    â€œI don’t like guys who are distracted,” Ty continued. “You need to live hockey. You need to eat and breathe it. It has to be the only thing you think about. The only thing you dream about.”
    Ty flashed Jason his trademark glare, and Jason shrank in his seat. That look made grown men want to dive for cover. It was fierce and unforgiving.
    Michael smiled. “All we’re saying is: Don’t forget your priorities. Because if you slack on this team, both of us are going to ride your ass so hard, you’re going to wish you’d never been born.”
    â€œYou got a girlfriend?” Ty asked.
    â€œNot right now,” said Jason.
    â€œGood,” Ty said emphatically. “Less distractions.”
    Michael rolled his eyes. “Girlfriends are fine. Just make sure—”
    â€œThe team comes first,” Jason finished for him, trying not to chafe. These guys had wives and kids and managed to juggle it all. Why couldn’t he?

CHAPTER 03
    â€œDo you always lay your head in a girl’s lap right after she walks in the door?”
    Delilah clucked her tongue. She had no sooner entered Jason’s apartment and sat down than Stanley hopped up on the couch beside her and laid his massive head in her lap. He looked so comfortable she hated to move him, but she had to. Stanley had to learn getting up on the furniture was unacceptable. Delilah delicately pushed him off her, rumbling the word “down” in her most commanding voice. Stanley gave her a dirty look and grumbled, but he did as she said.
    â€œLet me guess,” she said to Jason, who watched in amusement as the scene unfolded. “You let him up on the couch to watch TV with you.”
    Jason rocked on his heels. “Well . . .”
    He looked like a little kid caught in a fib, Delilah thought. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if he ever asked her on a date. All that “Don’t look too eager/Wait till he calls/Let him chase you” stuff her mother was always preaching confused her. Delilah had never been good at this; in fact, she found it excruciating.
    Besides, who was she kidding? Why would a hot pro athlete want to go out with her ? She wasn’t gorgeous. She wasn’t rich. She was a bumbling blurter. To top it all off, she knew bubkes about sports.
    â€œI got that thing you told me to get.” Jason disappeared into what Delilah assumed to be his bedroom, returning with the Halti, holding it out before him as if were a noose.
    â€œStanley, come,” Delilah