Off The Clock: First Responders, Book 1 by Donna Alward

turn,” he said, and Carly unbuttoned the last buttons on her blouse and slipped it off her shoulders. Gabe’s teeth bit down on his lip as he watched her.
    She felt so self-conscious. “I wish it was prettier,” she confessed, running her hand over the shoulder strap of her bra that was constructed for function and not for fancy. Despite her fantasies she’d never truly considered the evening taking this direction. “And the baby weight,” she added with uncertainty. Things happened to a woman’s body when she was pregnant that never quite went back to their original place. “Gabe, I…”
    A smile flickered on his lips. “It doesn’t matter,” he replied. He stepped forward so that her bare skin was pressed against the warm smoothness of his chest. “It’s all beautiful to me.”
    “Gabe…”
    His lips touched the side of her neck. “Beautiful,” he breathed, and she shivered.
    She reached for the button of his jeans, sliding it out of the buttonhole. She pushed the jeans over his hips, sliding her hands beneath the cotton of his shorts and closing her eyes, adoring the feel of his firm flesh in her hands. Things moved faster now, with an urgent edge as Gabe helped her out of her jeans and panties all at once and then fused his mouth to hers, nudging her backwards towards the bed. They fell against the mattress together, completely naked now except for the cotton of her bra.
    Instinctively she moved her hands to cover her belly.
    With gentle patience, Gabe moved one of her hands aside and replaced it with his own, sliding his fingers over the soft skin, making awareness ripple through her. “Don’t hide,” he murmured, replacing his fingers with his lips. The breath caught in her lungs, need taking over where longing had been. She reached out and touched the side of his face, the stubble there rough against her fingertips. “Please,” she whispered, and he slid up the bed, covering her body with his own. He kissed her, long, slow, languorous, until she was pliant beneath him. Then, and only then, he slipped inside her.

Chapter Seven
     
    Gabe felt her body close around him and clenched his jaw. So good, but too good to be over too quickly. He waited, struggling for control until he felt her move beneath him. He opened his eyes and found her gaze locked on his face. God, she was beautiful. So shy, so self-conscious, worried that he wouldn’t find her attractive. But he loved her curves. He loved that the changes in her body had been wrought by motherhood. They didn’t detract from her sexiness at all. Carly Douglas was all woman, and tonight she was his woman.
    He set up a rhythm and then it was impossible to think. He could only feel; the heat of her body, the sound of her sighs in the golden light of the room. It gilded her skin with a warm glow as his body tightened. Her fingers dug into his back and her eyes slammed shut as she shattered beneath him.
    Gabe grit his teeth, trying to hold on, but it was pointless. As Carly let out a long, sexy sigh of satisfaction, he drove into her one last time and into oblivion.
     
    A thin cry sounded from across the hall and Gabe opened his eyes to look at his watch. It was only nine. It had only been an hour since they’d made love and already everything looked different. He was curled around Carly in the gray shadows of the room, her back pressed to his chest, and he felt the moment she awakened as Nathan cried again.
    She slid out of his arms wordlessly and he watched as she scuttled across the floor to pick up her clothes. The cries increased as she rushed to put on her discarded jeans and her blouse. But more telling was that she never looked at him once. Not once.
    After she was gone Gabe rolled to his back and put his hands behind his head. He’d pushed too hard. He’d seen the need in her and it had matched his own. Being with Carly wasn’t just about sex because she meant more to him. Had for years.
    But now he recalled the day in her kitchen when