Fight By The Team (Team Fear Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

road with Rose. The confines of his pickup truck weren’t much better than the motel room. In the cab of the truck, she smelled his aftershave, felt his heat, and tolerated his silence. The bite of cold from the rare winter weather was a welcome respite from the ride, even if it meant they had arrived on campus.
    The snow didn’t stick on the cement, so the sidewalks were like pie wedges cutting through the quad. One path led to admin, another to the science building on the far end, surrounded by a modern art piece the university had overpaid for. If anyone on campus had a budget, it was the science guys. Science was the good old boy program, and her ex was the golden boy who could do no wrong. Oh, he did wrong, but he brought so much money into the coffers through research grants that he wrote his own rules. Even the pristine snow couldn’t hide the darkness underneath the polished campus veneer. Maybe she was the only one who sensed it.
    The students leaving the administration building crossed through the middle toward them, sticking to the sidewalk as if walking on the snow was out-of-bounds. Debi held her breath as they neared, then released it on a puff of white when no familiar face took shape in the crowd.
    Next to her, Rose walked like he was marching into battle, his suspicious eyes scanning the group for danger. Finished with the students, he altered his focus like he expected a sniper in the bell tower. Not that they had a bell tower, but it didn’t keep him from scanning the rooflines for a threat. The awareness in his eyes sent a shiver through her that had nothing to do with the cold. She rubbed a hand over her arms. Maybe she should be bundled like the students, but she’d left home with only the clothes on her back, and her silent bodyguard hadn’t declared the situation secure enough to return home.
    As the students neared, Rose pulled her away from the sidewalk and into the thin layer of white. He placed his body between her and the students who passed by talking about homework, professors, and weekend parties, reminding Debi of her first hopeful year on campus. Her heels sank into the damp earth as she waited for them to pass. When they did, Rose grabbed her arm and led her to the administration building, blocking like he expected trouble. Her breath started coming in quick gasps as her nerves threatened a panic attack. She instinctively moved closer to Rose, who exuded safety in the same way a tank promised protection. A tank might be dangerous, but only if you got in its way.
    When her best friend offered to introduce her to tall, blond, and quiet, she should have said no. The man in question was a Nordic type—she didn’t have any trouble picturing him as a pillaging Viking—yet for all of his intimidating presence, he was a medic, a man of healing. His face was wide, with a square jaw that looked like it could take a solid hit. In fact, he’d taken a few in the past week. He had a black eye, fading to yellow, and a scratch on his face that was scabbed, and somehow those markings made him more ruggedly handsome.
    If the Vikings had a religion, she’d convert, because his body was toned and tight and worthy of praise, but he’d also only said one word to her in the last fifty-seven minutes, which stretched her already taut nerves, but since she was breaking into an office and stealing evidence, Rose was definitely the man she wanted at her side. He didn’t speak much, but when he did, his low voice crashed over her like a tidal wave, covering her in his strong masculine energy. In the past few days, she’d pretty much used that energy as a blanket to ward off an attack.
    The farther they moved from the science building, the easier she breathed. She trusted the tough soldier beside her to protect her from bullets, but there were worse things that could come at her here. She could have said no when he suggested the mission, but they needed to know what Ryder had been given. Plus, it occurred to