Read Guns & Dusty Roads: The Iron Brotherhood Series for Free Online

respect, possibly even admiration, when she fired up the Fatboy, and his respect had grown significantly when he watched her handle it without a problem. 
    “But that doesn’t mean that you fit into this life, that you can survive here,” he went on, his eyes narrowing.  “These guys aren’t the typical bunch, but they’re all hard, and they don’t take easily to outsiders.  Especially not ones like…”
    The man trailed off, but his eyes dipped down to below Kara’s eyeline, running down to her neckline.  Wait a minute.  Was he checking her out?
    When he looked back up, Kara had to peer closely, but she spotted a hint of a blush now around the man’s cheeks!  Yes, he had definitely been looking at her with those predominantly male thoughts overtaking his more civilized thoughts. 
    But as fast as that thought might have come on inside of Cross’s head, it was gone.  He gave his head a little shake, and that little flush of color faded from his cheeks. 
    Before he could start speaking, however, Kara reached out and put her hand on his chest.  It was a light touch, and she pulled her hand away almost immediately, but for just a second, she could feel the heat of his body, the beating of Cross’s heart.
    “Trust me,” she told him, her voice calm and steady.  “I got this.”
    And then she turned to the door.  Cross opened it, and they headed inside.
    CHAPTER 5
    Agent Kara Sybil knew that the first meeting with an organization, however it happened, was always the most important to get right.
    This was her only chance to make a first impression, her only opportunity to appear with merit in the eyes of the higher-ups in the group.  Kara knew that if she made a mistake here, if she faltered, she wouldn’t be able to recover.
    And in this situation, a single slip-up might get her kicked out of the gang…
    ...or worse, depending on this group.
    If they turned out to be true one-percenters, a gang that truly embraced its outlaw roots, she could end up dumped in a shallow grave in the desert, never to be found.
    So as she strode into the house, a half-step behind Cross, Kara made sure that her head was up, her eyes were open and observant, and that her shoulders were pulled back.  This also let her observe the inside of the house, trying to observe as much as possible.
    The inside of the house was definitely a man’s realm, she could see at once.  The furniture tended towards “bar interior,” with wood paneling replacing any sort of wallpaper, and sagging, well-worn couches pushed up against most of the walls.  There was a set of stairs leading to the upper level on her left as soon as she entered, and a living room on the right.  The living room’s far wall held up a dartboard, and scatterings of holes revealed where dart throwers had missed their marks.
    Cross stepped over and into the living room, and over his shoulder, Kara could see that the room wasn’t empty.  Two other men were sitting on one of the couches, now rising up to their feet at the entrance of this newcomer.  As they stood, Kara immediately sized them up, years of FBI training making this automatic.
    The man on the left side was short; even standing up, he looked like he barely broke five feet in height.  He had a stout, thick, frame, however, which was further amplified by his shortness.  Beneath a leather sleeveless vest, his arms bulged with muscles, and a thick brown beard spilled down his chest.  He wore two thin braids in his hair, and the first impression that Kara received from him made her think of a big, burly, good-natured dwarf who had momentarily misplaced his battle axe.
    “Well, well!” the big, burly dwarf chortled, half to himself, as he stood up.  “Cross, you’ve brought back someone sexy!  How the hell did you manage to pull that off?”
    The man next to him, however, looked much more imposing, and even as the dwarf cracked this joke, his lips didn’t twitch.  He was tall, bigger even than Cross,