It's time to take one for the team.As the mascot for Allbreck University’s football team, the last thing Ruth expects during a late-night practice session is getting thrown over someone’s shoulder and stuffed into the back of a minivan.She’s been kidnapped by players from Beaufort College, Allbreck’s fiercest rivals, in some kind of prank-gone-wrong. When all hell breaks loose and the perpetrators bail, it’s Rowan - their intriguing center - who gets left to pick up the pieces.Ruth doesn’t need another catastrophe, with the unmanaged ADHD that’s taking over her life and a sort-of-ex who acts like they were never more than friends, she’s got enough to deal with.All she wants is a way to get home, unfortunately the only guy who can help is the one who wants nothing to do with this night and even less to do with her.When Rowan accepts a coaching job for after graduation, he knows that things are going to change. He just didn’t think that that change would feel like losing everything before his last playing season is even over.His dad’s disappointed in him, his head coach’s expectations are growing, and his teammates treat him more like staff than one of their own.When his team shows up drunk one night with their rivals’ kidnapped mascot, they assume that once again he’ll clean up their mess.But when she takes off the oversized toad head and he gets his first look at those big green eyes, he realizes he might have bigger issues.Even long after the night is over, their connection keeps pulling them back together. But Ruth can’t handle any more distractions, and Rowan can’t give his team any more reasons not to trust him. With everything to play for and their hearts on the line, can they make it into the end zone?Fighting Spirit is a standalone Rival Teams, Mascot x Player Sports Romance with a grouchy, acts of service hero and the chaotic heroine that shakes up his world.