Tacie Graves

Compromising Positions

Chapter One

Blue skies dotted with clouds that looked like cotton candy made a canopy above her, rolling green hills-Nature’s idea of wall to wall carpeting-stretched out around her, and brightly colored boats bobbed like jewels on the water before her. Waves beat against the shore in counterpoint to the beating of her heart. The sun kissed her skin leaving it warm and lightly gold. The scent of the ocean rekindled some ancient connection in her, echoing a time when the ocean guaranteed survival with food, and work, and trade. A simpler time. Not easier-oh, she’d never believe it was easier-but it was simpler.

It was so different from Miami. Miami had sun and beaches, but the city masked the pulse of the land. It never slept. Neon lights and music had long since replaced the rhythm of the ocean. But there was something about Portofino-the old fishing village rubbing shoulders with the bright lights of the restaurants and cafes-that managed to keep both the old and new alive.

Everywhere Mina looked her art historian eyes found another treasure. There were frescos on shop walls, and churches that took her breath away. Tiny carvings decorated the simplest things. Art was part of life here. It was paradise.

Well, it should have been paradise. And it would have been… if it weren’t for the shouting.

Mina shifted on her lounger and tried to block out the sounds coming from the villa behind her, but it was no use. They’d been shouting for three days, and every day she got closer to throwing in the towel and hopping the first flight she could catch back to Miami.

“It will not last forever.”

The voice startled her out of her reverie. First, it was speaking English-thank God! — and second, it sounded like it was laughing.

Mina took her sunglasses off and looked at her new companion. Laugh lines crinkled at the corners of dark eyes, and a slash of white teeth grinned at her. He looked a little older than her, but his expression belonged on a naughty ten year old boy.

“I don’t know about that,” she sighed and the man laughed again.

“Trust me,” he said. “I have listened to them fight my whole life. Mamma will give in soon enough.” He sounded almost jealous. “She always does.”