Our Secret Christmas: Sky High Scaffolders, #2

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

Midweek, Late September

LEE

COULD THIS PARTICULAR taste of sweet torture have been Connor's idea?

Or just pure good fortune? A tasty treat for Lee's eyes in the afternoon?

You guys who work on smaller erections, you're not kids. It would have been funnier if Harry didn't point his ballpoint pen at them in such an accusing manner. His black book remained safely tucked under the other arm.

Sitting along the side of the truck with their backs to the semi-detached house that was today's site of work, they snickered like adolescent schoolboys.

I'll have you know, I've had plenty of hands-on experience with big erections. Dave used both hands to cup his crotch.

Erections, plural? The rising intonation made it clear Todd's words were a question as he— all earrings, tattoos, and black hair—stared at Dave's hands. Or his crotch. Or both.  

Scaffold erection, you dick. I got a woman who sorts out this big beast. Dave shook his imaginary trouser python, and his red fluffy mohawk haircut bobbed about. For the oldest guy on site, he definitely had the craziest hair.

Harry ignored the titters and banter. Just watch the A team at work.

When Harry Smith arrived on site, it meant one thing: health and safety. It was no laughing matter. Too earnest to work in construction, Harry rarely smiled, never laughed, and appeared old before his time. He wore a haircut from the 1950s and clothes to match. He'd gathered Lee and his colleagues together, bringing the afternoon's work to a halt, and had them watch a second scaffold crew who had just arrived at another site across the road.

If I'd have known you were coming this afternoon, Harry, I would've saved a few biscuits and a cup of tea to enjoy while watching the show, but my flask is empty, Dave spoke again.

Lee couldn't speak. His mouth was dry. His brain scrambled. Best to remain silent when a situation like this was sprung upon him. By his standards, he was the only normal guy among them, but also probably the only man who loved men too. They sat and watched. Across the road, another scaff crew prepared for work.

You're big boys; you all know how to do this, right? Harry adopted a patronizing tone Lee hoped wouldn't last all day.

As soon as he'd seen Harry arrive, Lee had picked up his phone from the cab. He'd missed some texts from Connor but didn't read them; he could guess what they might say.

Every one of you holds a Construction Industry Scaffolder card, so I don't need to tell you what's going on over there, said Harry.

Too bloody right. No one needed to tell Lee what he was watching. A fucking fantasy-worthy display of dreamboat manliness. Five fit guys in their twenties and thirties, wearing matching navy blue polo shirts, each with the Sky High Scaffolds company branding on the front and back.

Scaffolders preparing for work meant getting into their safety harnesses. The yellow polyester webbing of the straps emphasized broad shoulders, flat stomachs, and muscular arms.

The D-rings that would keep the workers safely secured to the structure suggested a little bondage play. The pass-through leg straps nicely framed bulging packages and firm butts.

From where Lee sat and watched, Connor was all masculine goodness, and the other dudes weren't bad either. It was a very pleasing view. He'd worked in construction for thirteen years and was used to working alongside attractive men, though he had no intention of saying any of that to Harry or any of his colleagues.

It wasn't the way Lee normally thought about his coworkers, but he allowed himself this indulgence with Connor because, after all, they were a couple. Their exclusive boyfriend relationship was only into its second week, and they'd spent every one of those nights together. From Lee's perspective, it had come as a surprise. He knew he was gay himself but had no idea that his old school buddy and fellow scaffolder was also into guys until three weeks earlier when Connor made a pass. Not so much a pass, more of a clumsy lunge, but that was already in the past. Lee knew Connor was into girls; the guy thing caught Lee by surprise.

Although Lee and Connor had a lot of history together, they had also spent recent weeks getting to know each other in new ways. There was less playtime on the weeknights because Connor worked long hours, and Lee studied part-time for a computer science degree. Restricted time didn't mean no fun at all; every day involved some intimate connection and sleeping in the same bed. At the weekends, they'd hole up in Connor's apartment, where they'd got extra familiar with each other's bodies.

Mr. Health And Safety's real name was Harry Smith, so by coincidence, his real name had the same initials as his job title. Lee wasn't sure of Harry's middle name, but he vaguely recalled someone saying it was Andrew. Mr. H And S, no way. What were the chances of that? Surely too much of a coincidence.

It was no coincidence that Lee and Connor were working within sight of each other, albeit on separate building sites. Connor, son of the company owner, was the second in command over every manual worker who wore a Sky High Scaffolds T-shirt and was responsible for the allocation of the sixty-strong workforce of scaffolders across multiple sites. He was effectively Lee's boss. Wherever Lee worked, it was because Connor placed him there, and wherever Connor worked, it was because he wanted to be there.

Connor hadn't warned Lee they'd be working so close this afternoon. Lee usually worked local to where they lived, so he didn't have to sacrifice hours of his life to traveling. Instead, he invested his spare time in education; he intended to leave construction within the next year or two for an alternative career in computer forensics. Local site work meant routine and mundane two or three-story structures for small projects such as new houses, roof alterations, or masonry repairs.

Lee tapped the camera app on his phone, zoomed into the scaffs across the road, and took photos. Great for his collection. Connor, Ben, and Kevin huddled in conversation. Men at work.

So humor me, lads, and tell me: what are we watching? Harry asked.

Isn't that young Kev over there with the big boys? Dave pointed across at the scaffolders, but he didn't need to. They all knew who he was talking about. I've never worked with him. Just spoke to him at last year's Christmas bash.

The SHS Christmas party was as notorious as any scaffolder's party; it always involved too much booze and strippers who invariably didn't stop at stripping but were more than happy to make some easy extra money.

He was barely old enough to be there, as I remember. Those young guys get overly excited with all those bare babes in front of them.

You are mixing him up with someone else. He's not so young, said Harry. Kevin's in his twenties: twenty-two, I think. But that wasn't my question. Focus on safety and tell me, what do you see?

Lee saw his boyfriend, but he'd never dated a guy at work before and wasn't ready to come out to coworkers.

No one answered.

CHAPTER TWO

CONNOR

CONNOR NEVER PLANNED for them to work within sight of each other.

Most days of the week, if Connor had arrived at a site across the road from other members of his team, he would have gone over and exchanged greetings. It was polite and a good management style. 

Not today.

This is torture.

Kev, harnesses, Frank mumbled. Why use sentences when a couple of words would do?

Kevin, a qualified scaffolder, but the youngest and most junior man on the team, had to step up for the donkey work in the absence of a trainee or laborer. They'd all been there. He was already unloading kit from the back of the truck. He dumped the safety harnesses on the floor by their feet.

At twenty-nine years of age, Connor was the second youngest on this team. As the son of the founder and a part-owner of Sky High Scaffolds, he was at the top end of the pecking order among this little group. Connor checked his phone. Many work messages but no reply from Lee, who he could now see, anyway.

They had to crack on because Ali Mack, his team, and his equipment would be arriving anytime soon. Connor knew this was an excuse. It would only take minutes to go and say hello to the workforce across the road. But he didn't.

They had been miles away when he got a call from Ali, the head of the specialist hoist contractors. Ali begged a favor; he asked to reschedule the scaffold elevator installation at the office block near Sky High Scaffolds' headquarters. It was inconvenient, but doing favors for other trades in construction brought good karma. The wheels of construction were greased by bag loads of karma and favors.

Ali wanted to install the hoist, and they had to make sure the scaffold was ready and safe for other people to step on. Leaving a skeleton staff behind at the job where they were scheduled for a full day, Connor and a group of scaffolders jumped into the truck and hot-tailed it back to their hometown.

Frank, Joe, I want you two to start at the top and work your way down, preparing for the hoist install at every level.

Do you want us to check the scaffold as well? Joe asked.

No. I'm going to do that. You two concentrate on just the one job, and I'll call you if I need a hand.

Okay, boss.

Still buckling up, Joseph and Frank went toward the scaffold.

Connor looked up at Ben; the man was a giant. The two of you will start at the bottom. Make sure we're ready for the hoist. Ben, you're in charge of that, as I might need to call Kev to help me when I check off the whole structure.

No problem.

Are you clear, Kev?

Yep. Stick with Ben unless you need me.

Of all days of the week for this favor, why did it have to be the day Lee was on a site immediately opposite the office block? No one at Sky High Scaffolds knew they were a couple. Since their friendship turned into something more, Connor didn't want to work near Lee because he wasn't sure that he wouldn't give them away with his words or body language. Connor had already forgotten how to behave around Lee when in public. Out of work, they were very physical with each other, constantly holding hands, touching in some way, or generally getting closer than straight mates do when standing or sitting.

To make matters worse, Connor noticed Mr. HAS across the road standing with Lee's team, and they were watching Connor's crew.

An audience, while he worked, wouldn't bother Connor under any other circumstances; they often had one. From site managers and health and safety inspectors to members of the public who stood by and gawped. Some of SHS's work was pretty awesome. Scaffolds that hung from the tops of tall buildings or wrapped around bridges suspended above roads or water.

As for those on new build construction sites, the taller or wider the building involved, the better. Massive erections always looked impressive.

He didn't know what was being discussed by the audience, but Connor could feel Lee watching him from across the street. Eyes scanned him. The gaze burned through his clothes.

Connor could sense conflict: the pleasure they would share if they were in private and the excruciating torture of being forced to watch each other in a public arena.

After giving a gentle tug on the straps around his crotch, he turned his back on the audience, aware his lover now had a prime view of his rear framed by the yellow webbing of the fall protection system.

Connor smiled to himself as he bent and ran one finger along the inside of one of the polyester straps that cradled his ass. Any bloke watching would think he was adjusting it for comfort if he thought anything at all. Any bloke except Lee, who would read so much more into Connor's deliberate and provocative movement.

Lee liked to top. Connor knew that much, even though the two of them had not progressed to that type of sex yet. Hell, being such a naive, gay-sex virgin, at first, Connor didn't know what Lee meant when he said he preferred to top. Of course, Connor knew how gay men reputedly did sex, but he didn't know the terminology. Or the etiquette. He didn't know the words for giving and receiving: top and bottom. He was such a novice when it came to everything about being in a relationship with a man.

Inexperienced but an enthusiastic learner.

Even with trepidation, he was still eager for his initiation to all new things about loving a man. Connor wanted to give everything to Lee, even if that meant receiving. If you loved your guy, that was what you did, wasn't it? He wanted to give everything to the man he loved. To give