Episode # 419

   It was after midnight as Eduardo and Jake ambled softly up the flagstone walkway towards the B&B. The single porchlight shone bright against the dark, late summer night. A gentle breeze was blowing off the harbor, with a hint of coolness to indicate Fall was not far off.
   "Well, being that this is our third date now, I was wondering..." Eduardo said, grinning mischieviously, "...how do I rate?"
   "Rate?" Jake frowned. "Against what?"
   "Against all those wack job blind dates Richard set you up on," Eduardo cracked, beginning his ascent up the wooden porch stairs.
    Jake sighed, somewhat mortified that everyone in the house, including the guy he was now dating, was aware of the fact he'd been unsuccessfully set up on a string of bad blind dates earlier that year by a well-intentioned but extremely poor judge of character Richard. "They weren't 'wack jobs', Eduardo," Jake said, defensively.
   "Oh, yeah? I heard one of 'em pulled a shotgun on you."
   "That's...not quite accurate," Jake said, rolling his eyes as he recalled the chilling winter afternoon he'd spent with Dan, one of Richard's more egregious set-ups. "We went hunting together, but..." he paused, recalling the mortal fear he'd felt when Dan threw a raging temper tantrum on their date while brandishing a rifle, "...yeah, the guy had some anger management issues."
   "Must've been a wildman in bed," Eduardo offered, teasingly.
   "We didn't go to bed."
   "And now you regret that."
   "Ha!" Jake laughed. "Not in the slightest."
   "What about me?" Eduardo asked, the porch light casting deep shadows across his handsome face. "Any regrets you turned me down that first night we made out?"
   "Maybe," Jake hesitated, thinking about that first evening they'd connected while sharing some cold beers and warm conversation after yet another one of Jake's strike-out blind dates, "part of me regrets that."
   "Which part?" Eduardo inquired, reaching down and giving Jake's crotch a quick squeeze. "This part?"
   "Eduardo..." Jake groaned, taken aback by the younger man's bold move.
   "Uh-oh. Serious face."
   "C'mon, Eduardo...you know I like you."
   "Yeah. I think your erection establishes that."
   "I don't want to play games. And if this is all a joke to you...then maybe...well..." Jake stammered, not sure where he was going with this. Only sure that he was now feeling very much like he'd been thrown into the deep end.
   "Then maybe you should shut up and kiss me now," Eduardo whispered, pressing close to Jake's body to let him know he wasn't the only one with an erection.
    And at that moment, as their lips connected in a long, deep, electric, passionate kiss, all of Jake's concerns about age differences, compatibility, and awkwardness evaporated into the gentle late-summer breeze.