Chapter 11

Knox

I knew exactly what Charlie was doing. The not-so-little prick was setting Millie up using the same prank we’d pulled on pretty much every new person that joined the station and their wives and girlfriends. People thought handling a fire hose was just like watering the garden, but it wasn’t. Part of me wanted to warn Millie, ruin the prank, make sure she wasn’t taken by surprise.

The other half just wanted to see how she’d react.

Probably because I could almost feel her heart rate pick up the minute we got in the back of the truck with her. I shouldn’t have. I drove, so it should’ve been in the front seat, but Charlie took on that role. Instead, I wedged myself into the backseat just to feel the press of Millie’s leg against mine through the thick fabric of Noah’s uniform.

In my head I tried to justify it, that it was just helping create a vibe in the backseat that made clear what Noah had done for Millie, but I knew. It wasn’t just Charlie who was revisiting that night in the backseat. Like every other night since the moment I picked Millie up and carried her away from the fire, I felt the shadow of her body against my skin and wanted more.

Just like Noah did, if Millie truly was his childhood sweetheart.

Which meant I needed to step forward now and follow through on this prank.

“Roll the hoses out,” I barked, but Charlie and Noah had already started moving as Millie shrugged out of Noah’s tunic. My focus shifted back to Millie as we stepped out into the big open-air training space at the back of the station. “The boys will hook the hose up, get the water running, but you need to know a few things before you start squirting water everywhere.”

“Bet you say that to all the girls.”

That little smirk of hers would be the death of me, but I forged on.

“You’ll be aiming for that target on the back wall.” We’d painted a sloppy bullseye on the wall at some point. “Seems easy enough, right?” She nodded. “Well, a fire hose is different to the one you use in the garden. It’ll have massive amounts of pressure pumping through it. Release that pressure? It’s a bit like a bullet being fired from a gun. The force used to propel the water, the bullet, creates recoil, pushing you back.”

“Recoil…”

She looked up at me in alarm.

“Remember every action has an equal and opposite angle,” Noah called out.

“Was that the guy with the apple?” she asked, the tremor obvious in her voice.

“Newton?” Noah asked. “Yeah. That means when the pressure rises in the hose, it has to go somewhere. When you release the valve, it’s going to propel the water forward and push you back.”

She stared into my eyes.

“So how do I stop that?”

“We use several different stances,” I explained, “but for tonight, the best thing might be a simple standing hold. You need your feet at least hip width apart.”

I demonstrated that, trying not to preen when she watched me closely, then she mimicked my stance, only to waver on her heels. With a little hiss, she pushed them off, reminding me of that night. Half the reason why I picked her up was because I didn’t want her tearing her bare feet on the asphalt.

Though I’d never shown that level of consideration to any other member of the public before.

Pretty feet with bright red nail polish emerged, but she planted them on the concrete floor as Charlie approached with the hose. I grabbed the nozzle and then started to show her how it worked.

“This here is the bale.” I gripped the big lever on the top of the hose. “Pull it back and the water comes out.” She blinked as a jet of water shot through the air, and I was quietly proud of the fact I didn’t move an inch. “Hose is kept tight to the body, tucked under the arm…”

That wouldn’t be enough on its own. There was a reason we had such a stringent physical aptitude test to join our ranks. I looked over her head to where Noah was ambling over, knowing he’d take up the slack.

“OK, show me how it’s done.”

I handed over the hose and she looked at it like it was a venomous snake or something, flinching when she felt the pressure, but she held on. Just as I told her, she squared her stance, tucked the hose under her arm, and that’s when Noah moved. Kneeling down behind her, his knee pinned the hose to the ground. We used similar poses when a team member needed extra support on the hose. He hooked an arm around the hose below her, but Millie didn’t feel it because she pulled the bale out. A little gasp, then a nervous laugh, and she was sending water cascading all over the wall.

“Shit, shit, shit…!”

I stepped closer and so did Charlie, Noah’s grip tightening. Nothing would happen to Millie, not while we were here, but she didn’t know that right now. Instead, I was willing to bet that enough adrenaline pumped through her veins, lending her strength she didn’t know she had.

“Hold it!” I snapped.

“Trying to!”

Her yelp had Noah pressing down harder, Charlie and I clustering closer just in case she lost control.

“At the target.” I kept my voice low and calm, like I always did with new recruits. “You can do it. Bring the stream down.”

“No, I can’t” Her arms were locked tightly, but this close, I saw the quiver in the muscles. “I can’t!” Millie looked up at me in panic. “Knox?—!”

“Just lock down the bale if it’s too hard,” I told her as my hand moved, ready to take over. “Push it back and…”

Something shifted in her now, making clear who she was. Her jaw locked tight, her brows jerking down as she focussed on what she was doing. This burst of energy wouldn’t last long, but it would give her the strength to do this. A low whine built in her throat as she dragged the hose down, then focussed the stream on the target.

“I did it!”

Relief, triumph, washed over me, as if I’d achieved something, not Millie. It would’ve all worked out if the guys hadn’t come strolling in.

“Well, well, got the new girl squirting already?”

God fucking dammit, Dave and the rest of the single guys strolled in to take a look at what was happening. Millie spun around, her face a mask of triumph, right as she looked down to see Noah was taking up the slack. That expression shifted as the hose did.

“You look good handling the hose.” Dave looked her up and down with an insulting slowness that had me growling. “But I’ve got one that’ll fit your hands better.”

There was a reason we didn’t usually allow people to handle the hose before they’d done their training. Her brows jerked down, her lips curling as she started to turn the hose his way.

But this was no backyard water fight.

“Turn the water off!” I barked. “Millie…!”

The back wall of the training area was pretty far away for practise purposes, but the side walls were much closer.

“Straighten up!” Charlie shouted. “Straighten up before?—”

As her stream hit the left hand wall, my hand snapped out, ready to turn the hose off, but not before water slammed into the side wall. Backsplash hit us hard before I could yank on the bale, cutting off the stream. I’d spent some time finding a nice t-shirt, one that didn’t have holes in it, and now it was plastered to my chest. I let out an involuntary shiver, but not due to the chill in the air.

Part of the appeal of Millie’s cute little dress was that all that silky fabric looked whisper thin, like one good yank and you’d be able to tear it off her body. Didn’t need to now. My presence hadn’t stopped the water hitting her at full force, leaving her utterly drenched. She stopped, spluttered, wiped water from her face and then…

Laughed. One massive belly laugh that threatened to shake her whole body. I knew that because I couldn’t stop watching it shake. But if I was staring, so were the others, Noah looking like he was just about to swallow his tongue, Charlie stunned to silence for once. Her laughter rang through the training room as the other guys prowled forward.

“The dress was hot before.” Dave looked her up and down. “Now it’s even better.”

Yeah, he was not going to stare at Millie’s every curve, not while I stood there. I moved into the space between them, hiding her from his hungry gaze, and when he tried to look over my shoulder, Charlie and Noah moved too. He’d have to get past the three of us, that was made clear. Dave frowned, ready to respond, but that was the moment our boss appeared.

“Show’s over,” Brent announced firmly. “Dinner’s up.” He took in the mess with a weary eye. “Get Millie something dry to wear and come and have something to eat before it gets cold, but make sure that hose is put away properly.”

“Umm…” Millie’s voice was like a hand on my neck, fingers teasing the little hairs there. “Does anyone have a spare shirt, or should I just put Noah’s firefighting uniform back on?”