"It's fine, honestly" Carly insisted "It's pretty warm here anyway"
Before Molly had the chance to object, Carly had peeled off her swimsuit and thrown it into the water after her. James, who was standing just behind Carly, was now treated to a close up rear view of her naked body. It really was a sight to behold.
"Thank you! You're a life saver!" Molly gushed as she thrashed about under water trying to equip the ill fitting swimsuit.
"Um, I should probably leave you girls to it" James was able to draw his gaze away from Carly's bare bum just long enough to stutter. Carly turned round to give him a full frontal view.
"Why?" She seemed genuinely puzzled.
James would have loved to stay, but he couldn't be seen loitering around naked Norweigan athletes. What would Alexandra, Roxanne, Meghan and Melanie think?
Speaking of which, he heard Elspeth calling from behind.
"I'd really better go" James scanned Carly up and down one more time for posterity before leaving.
"Ok" she shrugged.
"I see you've found ways to entertain yourself in my absence" Elspeth smirked as James walked over to her.
"What happened was Molly..." James began but Elspeth raised a finger to silence him.
"I don't need to know the sordid details" she cut in "but I have spoken to the girls as per your orders, and you will be pleased to know all four are fine with it."
James' heart skipped a beat. This was all getting very real.
"So if you'd like to give me a name..."
James made another apologetic face. Carly had somewhat distracted him from considering any other matters for the past few minutes.
"What is it now?" Elspeth cocked an eyebrow in that distinctive way of hers.
"I've got it narrowed down to two" he offered as some sign of progress.
Elspeth sighed.
"Which two?"
"Melanie and Meghan"
James really couldn't decide. He knew he wasn't marrying either of them, but he kind of hoped this experience might lead to something more, and both of them felt like girlfriend material. If he could only speak with them both one more time..
"Well then how do we resolve this little quandary?" Elspeth paused a moment, then smiled.
"You seem quite dirty enough for both of them. I can give you some quality alone time with each, winner comes back to dinner once you're fully clean. Sound fair?"
James nodded. He couldn't help but get the feeling Elspeth was quite fond of him to indulge him like this.
"Fine, I'll send Alexandra and Roxanne back here. You can let them know why they didn't quite make the cut. I will go back to the other two and make preparations. I shouldn't be too long, but you'll have a bit more free time for now, so see if you can control your urges a little better than the last time I left you unsupervised."
James didn't bother to respond to Elspeth's latest jibe. She was well and truly in his good books now. This wait was going to feel interminable though, however brief it was. But how should he spend it?