Page 19 of Set Me On Fire

“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 tosee 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?”

Chapter 12

Millie

Why the hell did I spend hours going over my potential outfits with Jamie, after showering to shave, scrub, polish, and moisturise everything, when apparently all I needed to do to get a firefighter’s attention was engage in an involuntary wet t-shirt competition? Make that three firefighters’ attention. Each man stared at me with equal fascination, and while a voice shrieked inside my head that I needed to go and find a towel and a change of clothes, stat, I didn’t. Instead, I just stood there, pinned to the spot by their gaze.

Deep masculine laughter filled the training area, making me think this was all part of the plan, but if that was the case, why weren’t Noah and his team laughing? Charlie’s smile faded so quickly it was like it wasn’t there in the first place, and Noah? He was pale, too pale, as red spots formed in his cheeks, but it was Knox’s expression that hit me the hardest. I knew that intense gaze, because just like the night we first met, those grey eyes burned into me. No, more than that. As he took in every inch of me, it felt like his eyes left searing trails behind. That should’ve warmed me through, but instead, I started to shiver.

“Shit, shirt.”

Noah went to unbutton his, but the fabric made that weird sucking noise wet shirts do when they cling to your skin. He shook his head in frustration, then looked to the others for something to give me. Nope, we were shit out of luck, because each one of us was damp as hell, which prompted my own little inspection.

Noah didn’t have those abs when I knew him, and while I assumed Charlie was jacked by the way he handled the pole, I hadn’t realised how much. Knox? It became immediately apparent how he’d carried me around with ease. The firefighter tunic hid a body made up of heavy slabs of muscle. My hand slid down to my bag, wanting to grab my phone out and snap some photos, because one, no one was ever going to believe me about this, and two, I now had that spank bank material I was looking for during the fire safety training. I shivered, but not for the reason they thought.

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