Stoking the Fire Ch. 01

Chris was early. It was nerves. It was his first day as a newly-promoted Trainee Fireman. He'd been promoted at the end of the previous season, and this was his first turn in his new role. He'd read the roster and seen that his Fireman, and therefore mentor, was someone called J. High whom he had not come across before.

Chris unlocked the workshop and went through to the mess room to put the kettle on, change into his overalls and read the notices. Once done, he filled his water bottle and took his bag, donkey jacket and mug of tea out to the rostered loco. Dumping his things on the footplate, he climbed up into the cab and hung up his bag and jacket.

The normal safety checks done (regulator closed, mid-gear, cocks open and handbrake on) he checked the gauge glass. The boiler was two-thirds full, so that was OK. The water tank, on the other hand was not, so he put the hose in and turned it on. As a trainee, he couldn't do any more, so he started polishing the cab brass.

Twenty minutes later he saw a skinny individual approaching the loco. "Hello," a slightly high pitched voice, Chris noted, "You must be Chris. I'm Joe, your fireman."

"Hi." Chris said, looking into a lean, clean face with no trace of a beard. Late twenties was his estimate of Joe's age, but that didn't phase him as all railway promotions are based on merit, and he'd been supervised as a Cleaner by people less than 20 years old. He thought to himself "Gosh, I bet he finds firing hard. He's not exactly large."

They both settled down to the lighting up routine, with Joe turning out as a really good teacher, greatly increasing Chris' confidence. They also got on well together, sharing many of the same interests. Chris discovered that Joe was a GP with an incisive mind and love for words. They bantered together with alternative meanings and esoteric phrases.

Joe left Chris in charge when he went off with the driver to change into their 'cleans'. As soon as Joe returned, Chris went off and changed while the driver went to collect the token. As Chris came out of the workshop, the driver handed him the token, and Chris went to the ground frame to let them out of the yard, shunt the carriages and hook on ready to depart.

After the first stop, Joe told Chris to take over, offering the occasional word of advice. Chris had trouble making the boiler-mounted injector pick up, so Joe told Chris to feel what he did. "Put your hand over mine and I'll tell you what to feel for." As Chris covered Joe's hand on the steam feed wheel, he felt a strange sensation which made him uncomfortable, and caused Joe to say "Come on, concentrate on my hand and the feel of the feed. Can you feel the injector singing now?"

The only thing Chris could feel was the singing of his blood in his veins. He thought, "What the hell is going on here?" trying desperately to understand his reactions.

Later in the day he brushed against Joe as Joe moved to one side to let him out of the cab to exchange the token. This time his body felt as if he had received an electric shock and his face felt hot. It came to him in a flash. He knew that feeling and now recognised the feeling from covering Joe's hand on the steam feed. It was sexual arousal. "Oh my God," he thought, "I'm reacting to a MAN."

Chris was hugely troubled by this, as it had never happened to him before. He was very attracted to women, but had never felt anything like this towards a man before. It made him wary, and he kept more distance between himself and Joe. It troubled him that he had got on so well with him and liked him so much beforehand. A startling thought occurred to him. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing to change his sexual orientation, since he had made such a mess of his last relationship with a girl.

The rest of the day was a bit strained, although Joe still gave out encouragement and help. Finally Chris was at the ground frame again letting the loco back into the yard. They all three worked hard to dispose of the fire and set the loco up for the next day. The only thing that slightly puzzled Chris was Joe's insistence to the driver that they didn't take any more coal.

Finally they dragged their tired bodies into the mess to take off their overalls. As they reached the mess, Joe took off his greasetop hat, and out tumbled shoulder length auburn hair. He shook his head to loosen the hair and it glinted flecks of gold in the sun slanting through the window.

"Wow, I didn't know that was under there." Chris commented. Joe smiled.

They started taking off their overalls, and as Joe peeled his down, Chris suddenly noticed he had unusually large pecs. Then he did a double take and realised that Joe, whom he had thought was a skinny short bloke, was actually Jo, a very beautiful lithe girl with small breasts.

Chris suddenly relaxed and laughed out loud with relief. He wasn't misunderstanding his sexual orientation. His body had recognised what his mind had obscured. To the questioning looks of his colleagues, Chris announced rather red-faced, "I thought you were a bloke, Jo." Her saucy smile made him weak with desire, but he had no idea whether she was spoken for.

They all laughed heartily at his mistake, and washed up to go to their respective lodgings for the night. He was too embarrassed by his mistake to ask her anything further that night. He also realised that his late 20s estimate of Joe's age should probably have been early 40s for the stunning Jo, nearer his age.

Chris' excitement at being on again with Jo the next day made him even earlier than yesterday. As Chris approached the engine again the next morning it was making a noise he didn't recognise. Fearing that something was wrong, he climbed up into the cab to investigate. Nothing. After checking round, he hung up his bag and jacket before climbing down to check if he could hear it again outside. Again nothing. Shrugging his shoulders, he went off to the mess to put on his overalls.

When he got back to the engine, Jo was already there, still in her 'civvies'. He couldn't help admiring her curves and her wonderful mane of hair, not yet up under a cap. He told her he had heard a strange noise when he had arrived but couldn't trace it. She seemed slightly jumpy about it, but merely announced as she climbed down to go and change, "I've checked around, and there's nothing amiss." As she reached the ground, she told Chris to start lighting up.

As she had done yesterday (he smiled as he thought of yesterday and 'she') he checked the grate for clinker, then opened the coal doors to fill the grate. He was intrigued by the fall of the coal. It was sort of heaped up at the sides with a dip in the centre that was almost flat. That was why he needed to open the doors to get to the coal. Finishing with the wood and coal, he put the paraffin rag on the shovel, lit it and threw it into the firebox just as Jo climbed up onto the engine in her overalls. The wonderful hair had disappeared under her greasetop.

Chris thought the cab had shrunk suddenly from yesterday, and he was visibly turned on when she leant down to look into the firebox. As she straightened up, he turned away to hide his excitement, and pretended to wipe the cab window. "Great idea," said Jo, "You clean the glass all round, and I'll start on the boiler."

When he'd done the glass, he climbed down and went to start on the other side of the boiler. He couldn't see Jo, but he could hear her voice as they chatted over the boiler. She was as interesting as yesterday, and not being able to see her helped Chris to calm down and join in normally. He remembered yesterday thinking 'his' voice was quite high pitched. Today he couldn't get over the sexy rumble of her low (for a girl's) voice. Suddenly he had a vision of her beautiful mane reflecting the light last night, and with the effect her voice was having on him, it made a small drop form on his tip.

As the day wore on, the tight confines of the cab caused him endless pleasurable agony as they inevitably bumped into each other. At one point he deliberately fouled up the injector to get her to show him again. She said, "Right, this time you try it and I'll feel what you are doing." She put her hand on his causing a violent reaction inside him. "Now, faster ..... back a bit ..... feel the vibrations ..... NOW that's how it should feel when it's singing." The additional effect of her sexy voice almost made him come in his pants.

They still chatted as the working of the engine allowed, and he discovered that she was sleeping outside rather than in a B&B. He wasn't surprised as there were lots of holiday camp sites around. She loved looking at the stars, and only slept inside when it was raining. But she did complain that the shower was very basic. "Bit like the one in the mess," he said. He loved the way she laughed.

Again at the end of the day she wouldn't let the driver take any coal. "We need to finish it right to the bottom before it solidifies." she said.

Chris asked her if she needed a lift to her camp site. Her delightful laugh rang out again. "No thanks," she said, "I can walk".

He didn't know the area that well, but thought there were no camp sites near the loco shed. "Well, see you in the morning."

Chris was early again. Ruefully he reflected he was acting like a schoolboy with a crush. Suddenly he was aware of the same noise from the loco that he had heard yesterday. He tried walking round on the ground this time, and narrowed its location to the coal space. So he hopped up into the cab and opened the coal doors to investigate. He froze and his mouth dropped open. The same dip was there in the centre of the coal, but it was covered in an old pair of curtains that he recognised from the rag bin yesterday. On top of the curtains was a sleeping bag, and poking out of the top of the bag that beautiful mane of hair that haunted his thoughts.

But what had made him freeze was the expression of pure lust on Jo's face and the very obvious movements in the centre of the sleeping bag. She was absolutely at the peak of her orgasm, explaining why she had not heard him today, and explaining the noises he had heard both days.

As her orgasm subsided, she opened her eyes, which widened on seeing him, and she flashed him a cheeky smile. "Putting in a bit of overtime?" she asked.

Chris flushed and mumbled, "sorry," turning quickly away. Her laugh floated after him.

He couldn't get the image out of his mind, and was uncomfortable around her. She on the other hand, appeared totally normal and completely unfazed. She chatted away about sleeping on the coal, telling him that on rainy days she had tried sleeping on the footplate, but it was too hot, so she moved to the mess. Now he understood her laugh at his comment about the showers on the campsite being like the one in the mess.

Once the fire was alight and all the basic jobs done, she said, "Let's have some breakfast and a brew before we start the cleaning." She produced a different shovel from the tool tunnel. It was obviously an old one and worn quite short, but it was burnished clean. "If you go to the fridge in the mess, you'll find eggs and bacon," she told Chris, "and put the kettle on while you're there. I'll want two eggs and four rashers of bacon. Bring what you would like as well."

Cooking with her al fresco was enormous fun, and Chris lost some of his inhibitions. He went off to get the tea, and they sat on the footplate eating the most delicious fry up you could ever taste, washed down with huge mugs of tea. As he relaxed he started to talk about himself and his hurt from his ex-girlfriend. She was a good listener, and just as good at helping as she was at training a fireman.

At the end of the day, they were in the mess stripping off their work gear when Chris suddenly said "Look, I've got an en-suite in my B&B. You could have a really nice shower, and I'll go out to give you the space." He wanted to be with her as long as possible, but didn't want to rush his fences, much though he would have liked to have seen her naked... At this point his mind blew a fuse. Given his luck, the last thing he needed was to make her think he was trying to seduce her and put her off.

"That's really sweet of you," she smiled at him, "I can't resist the offer of a clean shower compared to that shitty one in there." She waved in the general direction of the shower and loos in the mess.

They locked the gates to the shed and he opened the passenger door of his car for her. She slid in and her hair shimmered with the movement. She smiled her thanks up at him, and he nearly fainted with the heat it generated in him.

When they reached his B&B, he let her into his room, and was overcome seeing her beside his bed. She turned back to him as he closed the door, and said "You needn't go out you know. Just show me the bathroom. Do you mind if I go first, I've been craving this ever since the first night?"

"Go ahead," he said, "and I'll make us some tea."

The sound of the shower through the bathroom door made sparks fly through his body. His cock was so hard it was painful, his imagination working overtime visualising her in the shower soaping herself and washing that long hair. But when she emerged in a clean skirt and crisp white top, contrasting with her slightly flushed skin from the shower, his cock was spasming and releasing little spurts of lubrication into his pants.

Chris quickly disappeared into the bathroom to hide his aroused state, calling over his shoulder that the hairdryer was in the drawer and her tea ready on the side. He had his shower on virtually stone cold to bring him back to earth.

When he came out, she was lying on her side fast asleep, her head pillowed on one hand. Her hair spread out on the sheet, and her skirt was slightly rucked up revealing most of her long shapely legs. The effects of his cold shower were completely negated in an instant.

He didn't know what to do, so he sat on the upright chair and drank his tea, taking advantage of her sleep to study her minutely. Her face in repose still had slight laughter lines, with her long lashes brushing her cheeks. Her nose was straight and true, like her character he reflected, set above full lips and a clean cut jaw, all with a feint sprinkle of freckles. Her face was a perfect narrow heart shape, and he reflected that she already had his heart.

His heat rose as his study moved downwards. The first few buttons of her blouse were open, and her delicious skin with the same light dusting of freckles radiated good health. The beginning of her cleavage was just visible, revealing the gentle curves of her breasts. Her top had tightened across her breasts, and he could see her nipples pressing the fabric. He groaned, his gaze passing on down her flat stomach over her slightly bunched skirt to her silky thighs. Her legs were amazing -- long smooth curves, not too skinny, not too full, and sooo long.

He felt hot and drowsy from the long hard day and the relaxation of the shower, so got up to look out of the window and cool his face. There was no comfortable seat in the room, only the bed occupied one side by Jo, facing the window. The empty two thirds looked so inviting, so he walked round the bed and lay gently facing away from her and as far away from her as he could. He really didn't want to mess things up.

When he woke, he was warm and comfortable, and incredibly happy. He was trying to work out why, when he opened his eyes and found himself staring directly into a pair of beautiful green eyes surrounded by thick auburn hair. He could drown in the sparkling depths of those eyes. With a sense of shock he realised that not only was his arm over her torso, but her arm was over his torso too. Why hadn't she pulled away when she woke up? Then it occurred to him how incredibly sexy that was, and his body reacted instantly.

Jo watched his feelings playing over his face with an amused smile. She loved the way he was shy around her. Blokes normally reacted to her uninhibited manner by coming on far too strong. She looked straight back at him as he moved from drowsy realisation through to a full hard appreciation of their relative positions, and the slight reddening of his cheeks indicated his shyness.

"That's what made me feel comfortable coming here," she thought, "he's not pushing. In fact the reverse." His hand moved gently up to brush a stray tendril of hair from her cheek. She realised that normally she would have two reactions to that: either jumping on the man for a kiss, or an open-handed slap to discourage. Instead, his touch on her cheek was safe, comforting and sexy in a way that made her insides turn to jelly. "Bloody hell," she thought, "I think I'm falling for him."

Jo turned her head and brushed a kiss on his wrist. Chris' reaction was plain on his face, both delight and fear. The fear puzzled her.

"Hi," she said, "it seems we both rolled over in our sleep, but you were so comfortable I didn't want to disturb you."

"This girl is amazing", he thought. He tried to speak, but found his mouth so dry nothing came out. He cleared his throat, stunned that she had not moved away, and suggested "How about we go out for some food?"

She laughed, "If you hadn't suggested it, I think I would have eaten the pillows".

Although the immediate spell was broken, Chris was obviously more comfortable being near her, although still deliciously shy. They walked out together to find a place to eat. Chris' heart was singing, because not only had she left her things in his room to pick up later, but he would also have to drive her back to her "camp site".

While they ate, Jo started talking about herself. Chris loved the way her care for her patients shone through her attitude and actions. She brought their problems to life and obviously gave her all to help them. Some were heartbreaking, and he felt tears in his eyes at one point. Jo was so touched by this, and reached out to wipe away the drops with her napkin. He took her hand and kissed the back of it in what almost amounted to an old-world homage, causing her to wonder again at him.

"Why were you afraid?" she asked softly.

"Afraid? When?"

"When we were on the bed," he blushed delightfully, which made her smile, "and I kissed your wrist." He coloured even more, and Jo could sense him wanting to look away. He held her gaze, though, while conflicting emotions flew across his face again.

"I had a girlfriend," he started hesitantly, "who wanted sex all the time." He blushed slightly again. "At the beginning, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven -- what bloke wouldn't?" This time Chris blushed beetroot red, but Jo didn't smile or laugh, just took his hand gently to encourage him. He spoke up more confidently then, "I realised that she was having sex with other blokes too, despite me challenging her with it and her promising she didn't / wouldn't do it. One day I wasn't well, and came home early -- the classic scene I suppose," he mocked himself, "and found her actually orgasming on our bed." His boldness in using this word did make him look down, but Jo softly lifted his chin with her hand, leant over the table and kissed him gently on the mouth.

"I am sorry," she breathed, and it was her turn for her eyes to go moist.

"We split up after that, and I find that any intimacy now makes me afraid that I'll lose someone." He looked seriously into her eyes, and said in such a low voice that she almost missed it "You see, I get on so well with you that I want to know you better in every way." And much to his own amazement, he moved round the table, pulled her up into his arms, kissed her and breathed into her ear "Let's dance."

Jo was again amazed at her response to this. It wasn't purely sexual as had always been the case up to now. Yes, she felt that familiar tingle in her nipples and between her legs, but the crazy urge to sate it immediately wasn't there. If anything she wanted to savour it and nurture it, letting it grow until it became a powerful explosion between them. Up to now, she hadn't really cared what the bloke felt or needed provided they satisfied her. She'd had a string of what she now realised were not even sex buddies, just sex partners.