Free Caught on Camera: Part One by Lily Harlem

Chapter One
     
     
     
    Reece dipped his brush into the magnolia paint then aligned it beside the window frame. He had to be careful because his concentration was wandering. His job for the week was to redecorate Mrs. Henley-Smythe’s bedroom and he was halfway through the task, but since the gardener had appeared, his progress had slowed considerably.
    With the bristles held still against the wall, he allowed himself a moment to look down at the garden. It was bright outside—a brilliant, sun-drenched August day in Wiltshire and he couldn’t help but admire the view. But he wasn’t appreciative of the begonias or the gladioli or the neat topiary bushes, no it was Cade Davenport—or at least that was the name on the van out the front, Cade Davenport, executive gardening services, no job too large or small —who was on the receiving end of Reece’s admiration.
    Mrs. Henley-Smythe had told Reece to expect the gardener by midday as she’d flounced out of the door to a charity lunch with her friends at the golf club. Reece hadn’t thought any more of it until one of the hottest guys he’d ever seen had strutted across the lawn to the shed and started hauling out tools.
    Since that moment, his brain had struggled to think straight. He’d opened gloss rather than silk and had dripped a blob of paint on the windowsill that had needed to be wiped up.
    He stroked the brush downwards a few inches then stopped.
    His breath hitched and his belly clenched. Cade, the gardener, was now stooped over, fiddling with a mower and presenting his sweet arse for Reece to ogle. “Damn,” Reece muttered, as a familiar tingle stirred his cock. “That’s a sight for sore eyes.”
    It had been several months since he’d last had any bedroom fun and that had been a one-night rebound. Since Matthew and he had split, there’d been nobody serious in his life. There couldn’t be, the breakup had hurt too damn much. Instead, he’d immersed himself in his one-man-band decorating business and although not rocket science or particularly challenging, it paid the bills—just—and kept him from wallowing in the agony of having been lied to and cheated on.
    Reece wondered if Cade was gay. His radar wasn’t working from up here. If so, then Cade was a gift to mankind and a loss for women the world over. His shoulders beneath his red T-shirt looked thick with muscle and broad, his belly flat and his legs encased in scruffy denim jeans, long and strong. Reece adored the big, industrious boots he wore, a bit tatty and dusty—they signaled huge feet, which was always a good sign.
    His hair was dark and a little curly, the ends touching his nape and the tips of his ears. Reece thought what a nice handful it would be, that head of hair, to hold, to pull, to gather into his fists. He had a cute face, too—a little stubbled and with heavy, dark eyebrows, tanned, likely owing to the hours and hours he spent outdoors.
    Cade suddenly jerked his arm back and his biceps bunched and danced around the tight sleeve of his top as he pulled on the starter motor.
    The mower’s petrol engine fired up and the sound invaded the silence Reece had been working in for the last few days. He didn’t like the radio on. He preferred to be lost in his own thoughts and daydreams.
    And right now his daydreams were all about Cade.
    He watched as Cade straightened his black wrap-around shades and moved behind the mower. He grabbed the handle and began to push it in a straight line across Mrs. Henley-Smythe’s back lawn. As he went, he left behind a neat pale green stripe.
    Reece glanced at his paintbrush and continued with the stripe of paint he was midway through.
    The noise of the mower engine changed. He looked outside again. Cade had turned it around when he’d reached the patio area by the swimming pool and was pushing it the opposite way, parallel to the first line. He was coming toward the house now. If he glanced up he’d see Reece standing at the window, brush in