Free Guns & Dusty Roads: The Iron Brotherhood Series by Samantha Westlake Page A

weakness, happening only as a way to momentarily relieve the stress of the job!  It was nothing more!
    Of course, when she lifted her head an inch from the pillow to glance over at Cross’s body lying next to her, it all came rushing back.  As he shifted, Kara saw the man’s six-pack abs rippling across his chest, and she almost gave in right there.
    Even now, with a headache making it tough for her to keep any coherent thoughts in her head, Kara felt tempted to crawl on top of the man next to her, to finish what they had started the night before.  It would be so easy.  She could chalk the whole thing up to residual drunkenness, a momentary misstep.
    Trying to clear this oddly alluring, tempting idea from her head, Kara rolled sideways, putting her bare feet down on the cold wooden boards of the floor.  “We should get going, get up,” she said, not letting herself turn to look at Cross.
    She felt him shift on the bed beside her, pulling himself into a sitting position.  “Trust me, we’re in no rush,” he replied, his voice husky.  Was that from sleep, or other urges?  “After last night, everyone else is going to be taking their time getting up as well.  We probably won’t hit the road until at least noon.”
    Kara rolled her eyes at this, although the temptation to return to bed was growing stronger.  If there was no advantage to getting up now, maybe she could sleep a bit longer for once.
    But there was still the parallel temptation of the man lying in the bed beside where she’d slept.  If he made a move, he might manage to slip through Kara’s armor - and she wouldn’t let that happen.
    As if reading her mind, Cross let out a groan as he stretched, and then slowly lifted himself up onto his feet.  “Tell you what, you just relax for a few,” he said, reaching down to pick up a pair of boxers from the floor.  “I’ll go for a little walk around.”
    Yes, that would work.  With the man gone, Kara could let herself doze a little longer.  She tried - and failed - to prevent herself from sneaking a look at the man’s ass as he bent over to pull on those tight boxers.
    God, he had a great ass. 
    Cross turned around, and Kara hastily pulled her eyes up from his crotch.  She didn’t think she did so quite fast enough, however, as his lips twitched upward once again.  “Seriously, relax,” he told her, walking over to put one hand on the doorknob.  “After seeing you having some fun last night, the other guys here will be much friendlier to you.  They really aren’t a bad bunch, once you get to know them.”
    And then, before Kara could respond, Cross had turned the knob and stepped out of the bedroom.  The door clicked slightly as it closed behind him.
    After a second, Kara gave up, letting herself fall backward onto the bed.  The sheets immediately pulled her back in, and she quickly found the warmest patch in the bed, curling up in the residual heat.  The pillow underneath her head smelled endearingly like Cross, and although Kara didn’t want to think about how she knew the man’s scent so intimately, it was incredibly comforting.  It didn’t take long before her eyes drifted shut once again.
    When Kara next opened her eyes, it was because her nostrils were twitching, sending insistent signals up to her brain.
    There was a new scent in the air - one that Kara immediately recognized.
    “Coffee?” she asked aloud as she sat up, pulling the waves of covers off of where they had been covering her head, blocking out those sunbeams coming in the window.
    Cross had returned, Kara saw - this time, holding a steaming mug in either hand!  He carefully set one of the two cups down on the bedside table next to Kara, and then settled down at the foot of the bed, holding the other on his lap.  “Figured that you FBI types basically live off of the stuff,” he said, as Kara thankfully grabbed for the mug.
    She took a deep drink before answering.  “It helps me forgive you for last