The drive to the beach with Kyle had been pretty stressful. The air-con in the car was playing up and the passenger seat window wouldn't open either, so Cleo was feeling very hot and sweaty and her clothes were sticking uncomfortably to her skin. To make things worse they'd also managed to hit every red light on the journey so far and they were running about half an hour late for meeting the others.
Cleo had been friends with Kyle since she'd started work at the law firm two years ago. He'd been the only person to really smile at her on her first day and his face had stood out in a seemingly endless sea of stressed and angry faces. They'd ended up becoming occasional (OK, regular) post-work drinking buddies and he was the only person in the office she felt comfortable spending time with socially.
They were on their way to meet a few of Kyle's old university friends at the beach. There was a dinner party planned for that evening in a beach house that one of his friends had rented for the weekend and Kyle had invited Cleo along to join them. During a conversation at work she'd gushed about the fact that she hadn't been to the beach in ages when he'd told her what he was doing at the weekend. Afterwards she felt a bit awkward as she realised she might have accidentally pressured Kyle into inviting her on the spot, but Kyle hadn't really shown any signs of backing out since the offer so she'd decided to just go with it. She absolutely loved the beach and it felt like it had been ages since she'd had a chance to let her hair down so she couldn't wait.
Cleo was wearing a thin white vest and some skimpy beach shorts but it was still far too hot for her in the car. She gripped the front of her vest with her fingers and pulled at it repeatedly, to try and billow air down her top. She'd been absentmindedly doing this for a couple of minutes when she caught sight of Kyle watching her keenly out of the corner of his eye and realised she Was probably giving him a strobe-like view of her bra-free breasts.
Kyle jerked his head back to the traffic as he realised he'd been caught looking at her and his cheeks started to redden slightly.
Neither of them said anything but Cleo smiled to herself at the flattering thought that Kyle might have been actively trying to see her breasts. Her own eyes darted briefly towards Kyle's lap and she saw that his board shorts looked pretty full around the crotch. Was that a twitch she saw or was she imagining it?
She reluctantly pulled her eyes back to the road, for fear of getting caught staring herself. "What are your friends called again?" she asked, as a way to diffuse the slight tension that had now descended within the car. "Errrm, Stephan, Daisy and Paul. You've obviously met Stephan already, but I don't think you've ever met Daisy or Paul. Those two only got together after we left uni but the four of us all lived in a house together in the second and third year at uni. We were pretty inseparable really."
Cleo had met Stephan a couple of times while out drinking with Kyle. She remembered him being a pretty good looking guy and she'd also thought he'd been quite funny, although she had to admit that she'd been pretty drunk both times, so her judgement could have been slightly impaired.
They carried on the rest of the journey in slightly awkward silence, but thankfully the traffic seemed to dissolve as they got closer to the beach.
They finally pulled up at the beach, got their bags out of the back of the car and started the walk up and over the dunes to the spot where Kyle's friends were due to be meeting them. As they summitted the final dune, the view was magnificent. The Sandy beach stretched for miles in both directions and it was practically deserted. Beneath the clear blue sky the sand looked almost white and the sea was calm, with foot high waves breaking evenly along the length of the beach.
"There they are!" shouted Kyle, pointing to a group of three people standing halfway between the ocean and the dunes. They climbed down the dune face and jogged over to Kyle's friends. All three of them greeted Kyle and Cleo with big hugs and Cleo felt instantly at ease in their company. "She's well out of your league," was the first thing that Daisy said to Kyle, with a mischevious grin on her face and a sly wink. Kyle looked a bit embarrassed. "We're not together. Cleo's just a friend from work," he stuttered. Cleo laughed. "I hope you've not been telling them all that I'm your girlfriend!" she exclaimed in mock horror. "I've got a reputation to maintain," she teased.
Kyle was blushing again and Cleo started to wonder whether he actually did harbour secret feelings for her. "This might be a very fun weekend after all," she thought to herself.
Kyle was a handsome guy and looked after himself well. Most of the guys she worked with were fairly well off and dressed in expensive clothes but Kyle managed to look good in whatever he was wearing. Even stood there in a surf t-shirt, a pair of board shorts and some flip flops, he managed to look well dressed and effortlessly cool. Cleo had fantasised about him many times in the past whilst masturbating, but she'd never actually tried it on with him for fear of ruining their professional relationship and their friendship. He hadn't shown any sign of interest in her up until this pony, but now she was starting to pick up some hints that there might be something there after all.
The group carried on catching up and joking around with each other and Stephan fired up the BBQ, which had been set up before Kyle and Cleo arrived. Stephan cooked up a feast of steak, fish and halloumi and they sat on their towels eating, drinking cold beer and chatting in the glorious sunshine.
Just as they were finishing eating, Paul got a call on his mobile. He started to look increasingly worried as the conversation went on and said very little before ending the call saying "I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Is everything alright?" asked Daisy, putting her hand on his arm.
"It's my brother," said Paul. "He's been in a bike accident and they've taken him to hospital with a broken leg and head injuries. Thankfully it doesn't sound like he's critical, but it doesn't sound like he's in a great state either. I really need to go and see him."
"Of course." said Daisy. "Let's get going. Really sorry guys. Looks like we're going to have to leave you three to it."
The others told Paul and Daisy not to think about it for a second and to get on their way. They quickly said their goodbyes before jogging back up the beach and over the dunes, out of sight.
"I hope his brother's OK," said Stephan after the pair had disappeared out of view. "Yeah, I know Paul's pretty close to his brother too so he'll be really worried about him," said Kyle.
For half an hour or so the remaining trio were a bit subdued. They tidied up after the BBQ and set out their towels to sunbathe for a while. Cleo told the boys to turn around so that she could get into her bikini. There was barely anyone else within sight in either direction and Cleo reckoned that even if the three or four people she could see in the distance were looking her way, they wouldn't be able to make out much anyway. The boys had turned around so she turned her back to them and quickly got naked. It felt pretty liberating to be standing fully naked on the beach in the middle of the day and she took a moment to enjoy the sun on her fully exposed body. She didn't have too much of a bikini tan line as she regularly sunbathed naked in her secluded garden. She'd recently shaved off all of her pubic hair though and this had revealed a faint white patch where her landings strip had previously been. After taking a moment, Cleo bent forward and almost reluctantly pulled on her bikini bottoms. She pulled on her bikini top and did up the fastening at the back. She turned back to the boys who were still facing away from her and told them they could now turn around.
After 15 minutes or so of sunbathing and chatting, Cleo decided she needed to cool off. "Anyone fancy a dip?" she asked.
Both of the boys jumped up immediately. "Race you to the sea!" shouted Kyle "Last one there has to share their most embarrassing story this evening!" and with that he started sprinting towards the water.
Stephan and Cleo looked at each other briefly, with wide eyes, and then quickly followed in hot pursuit. They managed to gradually claw back Kyle's head start and with about 20m to go Cleo had just about pulled up alongside him. Stephan had done even better and had pulled a couple of metres ahead of the others. He reached the water first and just behind him Kyle and Cleo both dived headfirst at the final moment and hit the water at exactly the same time. Cleo was pretty pleased with herself and Kyle lay on his back in the surf, with a smile on his face, breathing heavily. "Damnit girl, you're faster than you look!" he laughed. "I think I still just beat you though."
