Off The Clock (First Responders 1)

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nbsp; The possibilities in those words made her quiver with want. And yet having to ensure Nathan’s safety had given her a bit of perspective. Shyness fought with desire. “I don’t… I mean to say…”

“Too soon?” he asked softly. She wondered briefly if he was worried about if she was physically able and she felt the heat of a blush rise in her cheeks. Was it too soon? The way her body was throbbing she knew the answer. But was she ready? She wasn’t sure. Gabe saw her indecision and came forward. He took her hand and squeezed. “Forget I mentioned it,” he said, and he smiled, but she saw lines of strain around his eyes. “Let’s have dinner.”

He turned to walk away.

“No!”

The word ripped from her throat. Nathan fidgeted and then settled back down once more. Gabe paused, his dark gaze penetrating. She didn’t want to just have dinner. She wanted him, and she was just frightened enough to need him to take the lead.

“No,” she whispered, wanting him to understand without her having to say the words.

He took her hand.

She followed behind him, her pulse hammering through her body as he led her across the hall to his room. The sunset bathed the room in golden light and Gabe ran his hand down the length of her arm, making goosebumps pop up behind the caress. With a smooth movement, he gripped the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.

He was beautiful, with muscled shoulders and arms and a flat stomach that tapered to the waist of his low-slung jeans. “Your 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 she’d told him she wasn’t looking for romance. About how her life was focused around Nathan and making things right for him. So what was tonight for her, then? A quick scratch of an itch? Gabe refused to believe that she’d used him. She’d been too lovely and fragile for that. But clearly she was having second thoughts about what they’d done, reevaluating, and the last thing he wanted was her carrying around some misplaced guilt about what happened.

He had to be more careful with her.

He got out of bed and slid back into his jeans. Pulling the T-shirt over his head, he left the bedroom and peeked into the spare room where she was in the middle of putting fuzzy footed sleepers on Nathan.

Very, very careful. Because what Gabe was feeling was big and scary and real, and it wasn’t something Carly was ready for.

“Come have something to eat,” he suggested quietly. “Better late than never.”

She picked Nathan up and cuddled him close to her shoulder. “Maybe I should go, Gabe.”