Page 41 of Be With Us: An Urban Foursome Love Story

‘I'm kidding Em, they're running a few minutes late. Give them a break.’

But another twenty minutes went by and Emilia was starting to get worried.

‘I'll text her,’ said Emilia.

As she started to pull out her phone, the door opened and in walked Amy, dressed in an ankle length sheer dress, with a plunging neckline and thigh high slits on each side. Emilia’s stomach nose dived and she felt butterflies surging through her. Behind her walked Mark, dressed casually in khaki shorts and a loose woven white buttoned shirt.

She immediately felt overdressed and managed to slip off her cardigan and shove it in their bag before Amy turned around.

‘Hi, Sam, I'm sorry, we’re running late, do you know if Mr and Mrs Black are here yet?’ said Amy to the perky young receptionist.

‘Amy?’ said Emilia standing up, she suddenly felt shy. Cassian stood up next to her.

Amy turned and smiled broadly and then rushed over to greet them. She embraced Emilia tightly and so suddenly that Emilia failed to return the hug and before she knew it, Amy was pulling away to hug Cassian.

Mark reached for Emilia’s hand and shook it gently and then more firmly for Cassian as the two men smiled at one another.

‘I'm so pleased you were both able to come,’ said Amy. ‘Again, I'm so sorry about the other night. I hope you can forgive me. I was asking stupid questions.’

‘It's fine, honestly,’ said Emilia.

‘So what would you like to do first?’ said Amy.

Emilia looked over at Cassian, who shrugged.

‘We’ve not been here before, so we’re open to suggestions.’

‘Ok, then we’ll surprise you,’ said Amy, sounding mischievous. ‘Just follow me.’

‘Sounds amazing,’ said Emilia, beaming at her.

Amy stretched out her hand for Emilia, who took it with delight, noticing how soft her fingers were as they walked away from the men toward the sign for the pool.

‘What moisturiser do you use?’ she asked as they walked.

Cassian watched as the girls chatted like old friends, walking along hand in hand. He stood watching them, unsure what to do and feeling a little left out. Then Mark slapped him on the back and squeezed his shoulder.

‘Come on, mate. I'll show you where the changing rooms are,’ he said, and winked. ‘Did you bring your speedos?’

Cassian laughed and snapped out of his gaze.

‘The tightest I could find, mate.’

The pool was heated and Cassian could feel the warmth from a few feet away. The surface was layered with a thin cloud of mist and steam. He arrived poolside first and breathed in deeply in the cold morning air. It was invigorating. It reminded him of sea swimming, back when he was studying at Portsmouth.

He and Emilia would wake up at five o’clock on Saturday’s and head down to the beach to watch the sunrise and then they would swim out to the buoy a little over a kilometre out to sea, the winner waiting for the loser, a kiss as the prize, and then swim back together side by side to shore.

He could hear Mark walking up behind him now and turned to greet him. The man’s appearance was chiselled. He looked like the model sculptures used in the Twelfth Century to accurately carve body parts for stone statues.

Cassian’s own physique was sharp, but Mark was high definition.

The ex-soldier knelt down by the side of the pool and tested the water temperature, and then scooped up a handful, splashing it over his face and hair.

‘Feels great to be out swimming this early at this time of year doesn't it?’

Cassian nodded.

‘So you and Em? You met at school?’ said Mark, turning back towards him as he nodded again.

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