Free Live By The Team (Team Fear Book 1) by Cindy Skaggs Page B

right, but we can argue later. Now, we move.”
    “ I can walk and argue.” Lauren stepped into the hall and down the stairs. “I’m talented that way.”
    Ryder chuckled softly. “Can’t argue with you there.”
    Now he wanted to be agreeable. They exited out the front and met Rose on the lawn. All the cars had cleared out, leaving the cement drive empty.
    Rose tossed her an oversized handbag. “This yours?”
    “ Yes. Thank you.”
    Rose nodded. He was a big man, much like Ryder, with light hair, suspicious eyes, and way of looking straight into your soul. Lauren hugged the purse to her chest. She’d known a few of Ryder’s fellow soldiers, but not well. None of them talked much. At least not when she was around. They certainly weren’t as carefree as the young soldiers at the bar earlier. She’d never seen Rose dance with anyone or even chat up a girl at the bar. He went with his buddies, but he was the most solitary man she’d ever met, which was saying something considering Ryder was a lone wolf of epic proportions.
    Rose clapped his hands together. “Saddle up.”
    At the bike, he gently set a helmet on her battered head and wrapped his leather jacket around her shoulders. She stuffed her arms into the sleeves and breathed in his scent. The coat was warm from his body. Wearing it shouldn’t make her heart fluttered like a debutante at her first ball, but it did.
    They pulled away as the sun brought light and reason to the most hellish night of her existence. Lauren wrapped her hands tighter around Ryder’s middle and relaxed into his back. Her head pounded and every muscle ached, but she’d survived, a doubtful outcome an hour ago. When the explosion sounded behind them, She jumped and her breath hitched. Ryder kept the motorcycle steady as if nothing unusual had happened. Maybe explosions were normal for him. Maybe he simply didn’t care. Lauren shivered. She pressed closer to him and zoned out.
    Twenty minutes later, they pulled into a motel parking lot. Rose’s truck was parked at the end of the line. Ryder pulled next to it and turned off the bike. Lauren dismounted and stumbled two steps back. It had been awhile since she’d ridden and her legs were rubbery. She wanted more than anything to sleep for a week, but she still had classes to teach.
    Rose tossed Ryder a key. “Debrief in an hour.”
    Lauren shook her head. “Ryder, I have to teach this morning.”
    “ Call in sick.”
    “ No.” The aches turned to anger. “This is my life. I can’t call in sick. Aside from Dr. Crawford, I have students depending on me. I’m going if I have to call a cab to get there.”
    Rose stepped away from the pair. “I’ll be next door.” He disappeared behind a faded blue door.
    “ Coward,” Ryder muttered. He led the way to the next room and unlocked the door. “I don’t want to argue with you.”
    “ Then don’t get in my way.” Lauren stepped into the plain room. A bed and a desk with a bathroom in the back. She’d kill for a shower. “I left the scene of a crime, let you blow it up for heaven’s sake. That goes against my sense of right and wrong.”
    “ It was the right thing to do.” Ryder helped her out of his jacket.
    Lauren shivered at the loss of his leather jacket, and it wasn’t simply the heat. She turned around. Ryder’s bereft expression matched the feelings winding through her gut. Deep down, she loved him, but love wasn’t enough. They’d had more love than sense and he’d still walked away. She refused to get attached this time. “I’m going to take a shower.” She glanced at the bedside clock. She still had to get a fresh change of clothes before heading to campus. “I’m leaving in half an hour.”
    She scurried into the bathroom before he could react. That probably made her a coward, but she could live with cowardice. The reflection in the mirror reminded her of a horror movie. The top of her hair was flat while the rest was windblown into knots. The scrape on