Serena's Secret (Primrose Valley Series Book #1)

Chapter 1 - Ethan

    Ethan Reynolds stood outside the Primrose Fire House, which was the typical red and yellow colours. A large logo of the fire department was painted onto the garage doors that the trucks came in and out of. The front was quite open for the public, giving anyone a chance to walk in and easily speak to one of the firefighters.

    He lived in Primrose Valley, a modest town in the Pennines of England, all his life. As a kid, he'd rode his bike down all the back streets and alleyways, travelled through the parks and ventured into the surrounding woods and trees. There wasn't an area of Primrose he didn't know.

    Like all young lads he got into his fair share of mischief with his friends, he pranked his teachers, played knock-a-door run. He switched salt for sugar in the local diner. Typical youngster pranks, it was all good fun and he never did anything illegal. He was a good lad growing up and as he looked around at where he was, he couldn't help but feel proud of where his life had taken him.

    At the age of thirty-four, Ethan was the youngest first lieutenant of the local Fire House and was stood to the right of the Chief, Barry Adams. 

    The Chief was a hard man, but he was damn good at his job. He was in his late fifties and had been Chief for almost thirty years. He had taken Ethan under his wing from the get-go and even now was able to charge into fires and dangerous situations without any signs of fear or weakness. He had dark hair with grey wisps at the sides, he was stocky, and hairy and stood at about five-foot-six" in height. He wasn't exactly short, but he wasn't as tall as some of the other firefighters in the house. However, he never let that get in the way of making sure every one of them knew he was the boss.

    His best friend, and the second lieutenant, Garrett O'Conner was stood to the left of the Chief. Garrett was two years younger than him at thirty-two, and he hadn't lived here all his life as Ethan had. He'd moved here from Scotland when he was fifteen after his parents divorced. They became neighbours, his mum moved into the house across the street from him and it didn't take long for Ethan and Garrett to become friends. 

    Whenever Garrett sneaked out to meet a girl, Ethan would cover for him. If one got into trouble the other would stand up to take the blame. This went both ways. Years later and he knew that he could depend on him through anything. They had each other’s back no matter what and that’s just how it always had been, and always would be.

    Garrett had light gingery red hair, which was about an inch long and always in a ruffled, messy kind of style, with dark green eyes. He was about six-foot-two, whereas Ethan was a bit taller, coming in at six-foot-four and had a short buzz cut of brown hair and brown eyes to match. They worked hard on their physical strength and their ability to do the job. This was why they were both built similar, with broad shoulders, muscular arms, and strong legs.

    They were awaiting a bus arrival of young kids from their old high school, Primrose Academy. It was their annual career week and they wanted to speak to them about their job and what it entailed.

    He was always happy to talk with the local kids, but according to the Chief, some of these kids were keen on becoming firemen in the future. That he would happily help with. He knew growing up that he would be a firefighter. His father and his grandfather before him had both been in the force, it was only natural he would follow in their footsteps. 

    Firefighting was in his blood.

    It was who he was.

    As that thought passed through his mind, he spotted the familiar yellow bus as it pulled up in front of the firehouse.

    "Here we go, lieutenants. Remember don't scare the kids. If we are lucky, we will have some new recruits in the future."

    "Yes, Chief," he and Garrett said in unison.

    His eyes remained on the bus; he mentally counted as twenty-four kids disembarked the bus in pairs and at the front stood two women.

    One of them reminded him of a pixie. She had short, choppy fiery red hair. At first glance, she looked a little like the actress, Emma Stone. She was no more than four-foot-eight, maybe five-foot at the most. She was so petite and small. The smile on her small face lit her up and he could just picture her with pointed ears and wings. He grinned at the thought. She was very pretty.

    His eyes fell on the second woman and he had to concentrate on keeping his jaw in place. She was stunning, a complete knockout. So much so, he suddenly felt very uncomfortable in his uniform, particularly his pants. He fought the urge to shift his belt and just took in the sight of her.

    She was wearing simple light blue jeggings showing off her lovely long legs. Legs he couldn't help imagining wrapped around his waist as he brought her to c****x. The jeggings were paired with a long blue jumper which displayed her perfect womanly curves; curves his hands itched to touch and caress and matching blue pumps. 

    She was about five-foot-four, with brown hair and as she came closer, he could make out her gorgeous hazel eyes. From what he could tell she didn't appear to be wearing much make-up. He loved a natural woman. He had always wanted a woman to be more interested in her mind than her appearance and not someone who would take hours doing her hair and make-up to just nip to the corner shop. She had a beautiful smile that accentuated her high cheekbones and he imagined her lips were soft and he really wanted to taste them. They were plump and ripe for kissing.

    This woman ticked every box on his checklist - if he had one. 

    "Miss Mills, it's good to have you with us today." He heard the Chief speaking and gave himself a mental shake to pay attention as the Chief shook the lady’s hands.

    "Please, call me Serena. This is Tina, my best friend, and my teaching assistant."

    "As you wish, these two are my right-hand men so to speak, my two lieutenants. This is Garrett." He gestured to his left and Ethan had to stifle a chuckle as Garrett saluted the pupils and winked at the women. Then he held out his hand to them both in turn. "And this is Ethan." The Chief gestured in his direction.

    Ethan took the pixie's hand first and shook gently, a small smile on his face. Then he took Serena's. A jolt of electricity ran from his hand through his entire body and straight to his toes. He tingled all over. She had the softest hands he had ever felt. He held her hand longer than necessary as he looked directly into her eyes. That warm hazel tint pulled him in as he looked; he noticed flecks of green amongst the hazel. He then noticed a flush growing on her cheeks and his smile widened. He liked that blush a little too much and his mind spun with all the other ways he could make this woman blush.

    "It's lovely to meet you." He squeezed her hand lightly and let go but kept his eyes on hers.

    "And you." She breathed and her eyes darted away from his.

    "They will be your guides and they will look after you." The Chief paused before addressing the kids directly. "I understand you are all curious about what we do, about the firehouse and the equipment. I must insist you do not touch anything without permission from either of the Lieutenant's or another member of my crew. Everything is tested regularly to ensure it is fit for use out there in an emergency. Please respect my house and we will get along splendidly. I am going to leave you with my lieutenants whilst I catch up on some paperwork." He nodded to the class and then went off towards his office at the back of the firehouse.

    Both Ethan and Garrett stepped forward and grinned at the kids, they all looked intimidated at the Chief’s retreating back.

    "Don't worry he doesn't bite. Much." Garrett reassured the kids.

    "Okay, kids. We've got a rough plan today of what we're going to do. However, as the day goes on, we may just need to change things around. First, we’ll give you a tour of the firehouse. We'll introduce you to some of the crew as we go. At some point, we will answer some questions for you about the job and take you through one of our typical training courses."

    "Now I heard from the Chief that we have some budding firefighters here today?" He looked to Serena with a smile and raised one eyebrow in question. She blushed but answered easily.

    "Yes, we do. That’s Chris, Luke, and Jim." She gestured to three boys who were right at the front listening to every word. They looked about fourteen. He smiled at the trio and made sure to keep an eye on them.

    "Okay, we can arrange a little chat with the three of you later." He smiled at the eager looks on all three faces. He turned to look at the rest of the class. “The same goes for anyone else who is interested, even you young ladies. We are always looking for new recruits, both male and female.”

    He turned and gestured for them to follow. He led them through the building and gave them a quick tour of the place, as well as introducing them to the crew as they went.

    First, he pointed out the reception desk. He explained they took turns manning the reception desk; that the desk was open to the public for general inquiries. He also explained that anyone in the neighbourhood would be able to ask them to do a fire safety check of their home or businesses free of charge.

    “Fire safety is not something we like to charge for. However, if there was damage done to a fire system on purpose then we would charge to repair it.”

    The communications desk was next. As it was a small room, he couldn't show them all at once. In groups of six, he took them inside, introduced them to their communications responder, Maxine, and told them the importance of her job.

    "If we didn't have Maxine and this machine here, we wouldn't get the calls through. Today she is on a quiet day for your trip - however, should we be called for what we call here as an S.O.S she is the one who will set the alarm in the building." He looked at them all. "Should that happen please don't panic. Just please stay out of the way. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this won't be the case today."

    "What's an S.O.S call?" One of the kids asked.

    "That means it is too big for one firehouse to handle. So, for example, warehouse fires can take multiple fire crews to tackle." Garrett answered. Ethan nodded in agreement.

    He then took them to the locker rooms and sleeping cubicles where they would rest during long shifts. “Sometimes calls could last hours so we need to rest upon our return to base.” In the kitchen, he pointed out the chore rota. "We take turns cooking and cleaning here. We don't live in luxury we just have the essentials to get the job done and stay here comfortably between calls. Garrett and I assign the jobs and even we must make sure it's fair for all the crew, so I think tomorrow I will be cleaning the toilets. Not the nicest of jobs but it needs to be done."

    He led them to the garage, where all the maintenance on the trucks happened, as well as where the trucks were currently stationed until called out.

    "As you can see, we leave our turnout-gear outside the trucks, this is so we are quick to respond to the calls Maxine passes on. You will get a closer look at the trucks and some of the tools of the job later." Ethan promised, encouraged at the eager looks on their faces. "Come on. Let's head out back to the training bay, answer some of your questions and run you through a few drills we had to pass to become firefighters." He took them out a back door and had them sit on benches by the wall, once they were settled, he stood with Garrett in front of them all. "Okay I'm probably going to regret this but any questions so far?"

    Hands flew up in the air and they were pelted with questions.

    "What is it like being a firefighter?"

    "Why did you want to be a firefighter?"

    "Have you ever been injured?"

    "What was the weirdest call you had?"

    "Is it just fires you help with?"

    "Do you drive the truck?"

    He raised his hands and gestured for them to calm down and chuckled.

    "Where's the fire?" He joked and looked up at a giggle from the back. When he realised it was Serena; he winked at her and was happy to see that same blush from before tinting her fair complexion.

    He kept his eyes on hers for a few seconds before giving himself a mental shake. 

    Focus. 

    "That's a lot of questions. Let's cover them one at a time.”