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“You’ve never been wild swimming before?” Hayley frowned.

“No.”

“And you tell me this now, after we’ve talked about all the lochs we’re going to dive into? After you made us plan it all out in such meticulous detail?”

“I’ve swum at beaches in Spain and Greece, if that’s what you’re asking. But no, I’ve never actually swum in the waters in and around the British Isles before.”

“I’m just surprised.”

“It sounds good in theory.”

“Even though you live in the Highlands, you’ve never made it into one of these gorgeous lochs?”

Anna shook her head, starting to feel embarrassed. “It never came up. It was never the right time. Or the weather was bad.”

Hayley stood up on her beach towel and started getting undressed, kicking off her trainers and slipping out of her trousers. Even though she knew Hayley had swimwear under her clothes, because they’d discussed it already, and Anna did too, it didn’t make it any less… alarming.

“I think you were just too scared.” Hayley threw her top off, revealing a bikini that drew Anna’s attention to Hayley’s breasts. Hayley’s skin filled with goosebumps, the tiny hairs rising from the cold.

Anna’s breath caught in her throat. She looked away, realising she was staring at Hayley’s gorgeous figure excessively. “You look cold.”

“I’m fucking freezing. Look, come on. Get undressed. We’re doing this.”

Anna looked around the small beach. They were on their own, thankfully.

“There’s no one else here. You don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you. It’s just me.”

Anna blushed. Hayley really had no idea that Anna had a crush on her, did she? “I’m not self-conscious. I’m just geeing myself up.”

“You do seem a little hesitant.”

“We shouldn’t go in too far. These lochs suddenly get deep.”

“Then we swim.”

“What if it’s too cold?”

“It’s going to be freezing but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? Cold therapy like this is meant to be really good for your body. Helps reduce inflammation or increase dopamine or something.”

Anna was inflamed all right but she certainly wouldn’t call this therapy. But she said she would do this and it was time to push herself to finally take the plunge, literally. “Okay.” Anna stood up and tentatively took her clothes off. Her own bikini was quite revealing, too, come to think of it.

Hayley looked towards the loch and wrapped her arms around her chest, hopping from one foot to the other. “Would be great if you could speed that up a little bit.”

“I’m done.”

Hayley looked Anna up and down, presumably to check she was indeed out of her clothes, then looked away. “Great. Ready?” She glanced back.

Anna nodded, still feeling apprehensive about going in.

Hayley’s eyes softened. “If you go in slowly, it makes it more bearable. I’ve swum in some lakes in Canada, and they were pretty cold. It helped. I also saw it on a documentary once.”

Together, they shuffled into the water. The cold was a shock, even at ankle deep. The sand scrubbed the bottom of her feet and in between her toes as she sank into the rough sand with each step.

Hayley was majestic wading into the mountain-flanked water beside her. Her skin had a golden glow to it that Anna’s did not have. Anna’s skin was almost blue; its paleness was exacerbated by the cold. Anna didn’t want to complain about the cold so soon, trying to appear tougher than she really was. They were knee deep now. Anna could hardly speak. Even her tongue was cold.

“Oh fuck. Oh fucking fuck fuck fuck, it’s so cold,” Hayley said. “What the fuck are we doing?”

“I thought you were all chill about this. Pun intended.”