I rolled down the window of the car as soon as Eric turned off the main road on Hatteras Island. I said, “I don’t care if it’s chilly out there, can you hear that?” The waves were crashing on the shore. Despite the fact I’d never been on an ocean beach before, I knew the sound of waves when I heard them. I’d seen the ocean enough times in movies and videos.

Eric asked, “You can smell it, too? I never get enough of that briny smell. Some people think it smells bad, but to me, it means that I’m near the ocean, and that’s never bad.”

“Even in a hurricane?”

“I’ve never been through one of those along the coast. We got hit with the rain from tropical storms in Atlanta, and I don’t ever want to try and ride out a hurricane. If we someday have a place out here, we’ll leave for the huge storms. I don’t want to try to be a hero over the weather. I’ll be a hero on the baseball field and stop at that.”

I said, “You won’t get an argument from me.”

“Wait until you see the color of the water. If it’s at all like in Georgia, it will blow you away. That seafoam blue-green water is the best.”

We saw the top of Mo’s house just beyond the sand dunes. As we pulled closer in the car, it looked huge sitting alone on the beach. I said, “That house must have at least six bedrooms.”

Eric said, “It’s not quite that big. Mo says he has three guest rooms, but they all have private bathrooms, so that would add to the size.”

I grabbed Eric’s thigh and said, “This is exciting. Can you believe we’re here?”

As we climbed out of the car, strong gusts of wind whipped against us. I wore a windbreaker style jacket, and the breezes made it flap like a flag against my back. Spray from the ocean blew into our faces. “Wow, it’s a blustery day.”

Mo appeared on a deck up above. He called, “Come on up! It’s windy today. At least it’s not strong enough to pick up the sand. It hurts on those days.”

I asked, “Is this a storm? Or is this normal weather?”

Eric said, “I don’t think it’s a storm. Ask Mo when we get inside.”

Both Mo and Jack met us at the door. They gave us massive welcoming hugs. Jack said, “Mo might have told you. I’m on a computer ban out here, so I’ve been doing some cooking. I hope you like cake, and I hope you like fish and cornbread.” He squatted down near the floor and wrapped his arms around Rudy’s neck.

I grinned and said, “It sounds good to me. I bet it’s not catfish either.”

Mo said, “You might have to travel about a hundred miles inland for catfish. We have red snapper filets for dinner. Did you see that property sign on the way here?”

Eric said, “We did, but we didn’t stop. I figured you would show us around later today or tomorrow.”

Jack said, “The only negative thing about being out here is I miss Rudy when all of you are back in Charlotte. You guys have the best dog, and you’re so good about stopping by to let me see him. Do you know if he likes the beach?”

I shrugged. “Rudy’s never been to the beach as far as we know. I can’t wait to see what he thinks about it. I hope he likes to go for a swim.”

Mo said, “We could go out to the beach right now, but it’s blustery out there. The wind is supposed to die down some tomorrow morning.”

In a soft tone, I asked, “Can we go now? I don’t know if I can wait.”

Mo turned to Jack. “What do you think?”

Jack said, ”I think it’s too chilly to go for a swim, but I’m up for wading. There are some excellent waves out there. I love to see them up close.”

Eric turned to me and said, “You have to keep your arms wrapped around my body, so I don’t get cold.”

I said, “I’ll do my best, but I don’t know for sure what I’ll do on the beach. I might run right out into the water. Then you’re on your own.”

Mo said, “Not where the undertow’s a danger. Stick to wading along the edge of the beach today. Safety comes first. I insist on it.”

“Oh, I understand. Tell me if I’m screwing anything up. I’m not here to drown.”

A path from the house cut through the dunes to the beach. We all bundled up in waterproof rain jackets. Jack took Rudy’s leash and said, “It might feel like it’s raining, but it’s not. When it’s windy like this, the breeze whips the spray from the waves into the air.”

As soon as the waves came into view, Rudy started to bark. I couldn’t figure out anything he was barking at other than the water. I said, “We shouldn’t let him off the leash, should we? Those waves look pretty big.”

Jack shook his head. “No, we won’t do that. I think Mo would agree that we need to bring him out here on a calm day to see what he would do off the leash. I’ll keep a good hold on him.”

I asked, “Is the water cold?”

Mo said, “No, not bad at all. Today it’s probably a little warmer than the air. At this time of year, the water is still in the mid-70s or so.”

“Wow!” I kicked off my sneakers and pulled my arms away from Eric to jog down to the edge of the water. I called back over my shoulder, “I’m sorry about that, but it’s the ocean! I have to stick my feet in! It’s a first time!”

I heard Mo say to Eric, “It looks like you lost him to nature,” as I padded across the wet sand.

I stepped into the edge of the water and yelped. “Oh! It feels cold, Mo!”

He called back. “Give it a minute. It doesn’t take long. It will seem warmer, and you’ll like it.”

Within minutes, I was splashing around with my feet and watching the whitecaps breaking as they pounded into the shore. I threw my arms in the air as I danced around in the surf. I felt like the happiest man on the face of the earth. I’d just finished up my first partial season in the big leagues. I was enjoying the beach, and I was in love. I couldn’t imagine life getting any better.

Later that night, after dinner, Jack took Eric and me to our room on the second floor of the house. The master bedroom suite was on the first floor, but the other three bedrooms were all on the second floor.

After we each hugged Jack goodnight, Eric said, “Alone at last. I’ve been waiting for this for hours. I wanted to tackle you on the beach and roll around in the surf kissing like in old movies.”

He threw his arms around me and tried to cut my leg out from under me. I was bigger and stronger, but I let him wrestle me down onto the king-sized bed.

We both started laughing out loud, and I held a finger to his lips. “Shh, I’m sure they can hear us downstairs.”

Eric whispered, “Maybe they’ll just be jealous.”

“I know they should be.” I started tugging at Eric’s shirt with one hand and unbuckling his belt with the other.

Eric did the same with me. He pushed my T-Shirt up so that it was over my face and leaned in to kiss my chest. I tussled with his shirt and my shirt until we were both wrestling around on the bed again. I couldn’t see anything with the fabric of my own shirt in my face and yelped, “Oh, fuck,” when I lost my balance and tumbled into the floor.

Eric leaned over the edge of the bed and asked, “Are you okay? Maybe you should take off your clothes before you get in bed.”

Less than a minute later, we were both naked. I’d managed to retrieve both condoms and a packet of lube from my jeans before I climbed back into the bed. We’d gotten better at sex since our slightly uncoordinated first experience together. Practice does make perfect.

We decided that we loved it both ways, and it was my turn to slide deep inside my lover. With his legs thrown up over my shoulders, and my cock buried deep in his ass, Eric grunted and said, “It gets easier every time, and damn, I don’t know if anything feels better than how I feel when I’m filled up by you.”

As I started to rock my hips forward and back pushing even deeper inside, the bed began to squeak. As I picked up speed, the groaning noises from the bed grew louder. I growled, “Fuck, wouldn’t you know it. I’m sure you can hear that all over the damned house.”

I stopped for a moment, and Eric opened his eyes looking up at me. He whispered, “Listen…”

I listened. The house was silent except for squeaking that wasn’t coming from our bed. We both started to laugh until I began pushing even deeper inside. Eric gasped and moaned over the sound of the two squeaky beds in the house.

I moaned, “Oh fuck, this is sexy as hell.” I don’t know what was so horny about the fact that two other hot guys were having sex at the same time as us, and they likely knew that we were having sex, too. Thinking about it turned me on, and I reached the edge twice as fast as usual.

Eric moaned, “Hot, seriously hot…oh man, fuck me harder, Harley!”

I gripped his thighs tight and pounded hard. “I’m so fucking close, can’t hold it.”

“Don’t hold it. Cum now!”

I followed Eric’s command, and I exploded. My whole body shuddered, and I thrust even harder until I was sure I pounded his prostate hard. Eric moaned, “Yeah, cumming, too…”

He shot hard against my chest and my abs. Breathlessly, I moaned, “So, so hot! Damn, I love you so much.”

We collapsed into each other’s arms, and Eric whispered, “Listen again.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly. I bet they came about the same time as we did.”

I pressed my lips against Eric’s kissing him and whispered, “I can’t believe it. What a weekend away. Maybe we should do this more often.”

The next morning was slightly uncomfortable at first. All four of us stumbled around the kitchen politely offering each other coffee and commenting on the sun rising over the ocean. Finally, Jack said, “I’m really sorry that bed squeaks upstairs. I’ve told Mo that we should replace it. I forgot that’s the room with the squeaky bed.”

Eric grinned and said, “It’s not the only room with a squeaky bed.” He turned toward Mo.

Mo looked over the rim of his cup of coffee and asked, “What? Is ours squeaky, too? I didn’t hear anything.”

Jack shook his head. “It squeaks like a rusty gate. I’m sure they heard it upstairs.”

I watched the pink blush slowly spread across Mo’s face. His innocence wasn’t fake. He probably treated sex like entering a close baseball game in the ninth inning. “I said I didn’t hear anything. I was busy with…” His voice faded off.

Eric smirked and said, “I bet he’s good at it, too.”

Jack nodded and said, “Oh, yeah. I bet Harley’s no slouch either.”

I set my cup down on the kitchen table. “Hey, what? Whoa! I’m still new at this. It’s no fair critiquing me, although Eric’s like a natural if you want to know the truth.”

Jack laughed out loud. “You guys are too much.”

Rudy barked to make sure we didn’t leave him out of the conversation. I said, “I’ll take him out. I’m sure he needs to do his job, and I want to take another look at the ocean. Does anybody want to come along?”

A few short minutes later, all four of us were watching the ocean. The waves weren’t nearly as high as the day before. Mo asked, “So what do you guys think about being neighbors? That’s prime land next door, and I would hate to see it go to strangers. You would have privacy without squeaky beds, but it would be easy to cook out together and hang out on the beach.”

Eric said, “I think we should take a look at it. We would be stupid to ignore the opportunity. I think a place for perfect getaway weekends is a great idea.”

I looked down and asked, “Rudy, what do you think?”

He barked his approval of the idea.