Making Mina 3: Compromising Positions by Tacie Graves Read Free Book Online Page A

hadn’t been at the offices for the final museum arrangements.
    “He flew to Miami?” She looked at Ivy and got a nod in return.
    “Good!  I’m glad to see that brain hasn’t completely melted in the Italian sun.”  Ivy leaned forward. “He arrived on my doorstep Saturday afternoon.”
    Saturday afternoon?
    “But that means he left first thing Saturday morning!”  Wheels within wheels began turning in her head. “Why would he have done that?”
    Ivy pulled the throw pillow off the chair behind her and threw it at Mina.
    “Because he loves you, you moron!”
    Ivy was yelling.  Ivy never yelled.  Ivy was always calm and cool and collected--the voice of reason in a world of idiots.
    “But he was kissing someone else!” The words came out in a cry, her pain almost palpable. “I saw them, Ivy--with my own two eyes!  They were in his office, up against his desk.  She was practically in his lap!” 
    Tears welled up in her eyes.
    “I can’t do that again, Ive.  I can’t.  It was bad enough with Ethan--I didn’t really love him, I know that now, so the hurt of him cheating on me didn’t last. But Marco? I …” 
    Her voice faded away and Ivy slid forward to kneel on the floor at her feet.
    “You what, sweetie?” 
    Mina knew the look on her face.  She wasn’t going to let her out of it.
    “It’s different.”  Silence filled the space between them. Mina twisted her hands together, and Ivy clasped hers around them.
    “It’s different because you actually love him.”
    The words were said softly, but they hit Mina like a hammer.  Her heart slammed painfully in her chest, and her breath was uneven. 
    “I can’t…” she whispered, begging Ivy to understand, but Ivy was relentless.
    “You have to.”  Her hands tightened and she forced Mina to look at her.  “You have a chance--a beautiful, terrifying chance--to fulfill every dream you’ve ever had.  A true happily ever after! All you have to do,” she raised a finger, tilting Mina’s chin, “is trust him.”
    She made it sound so easy--trust him.  Like she could just flip a switch and all her worries would disappear.
    “It isn’t that easy.”
    Ivy gave her a serious look.  “It is, actually.  He’s out there waiting.  He wants to explain. Hell, he explained to me, and I believed him, and I don’t even know him.”
    She stood up.
    “I’m going to open that door, and you are going to swallow your pride and your fear and you are going to sit and listen to what the man has to say.  If, after that, you still don’t believe him I will drop the subject and never revisit it.  If, however, you do not listen to him, I swear on my black cashmere trench coat that I will make every day of the rest of your life an utter misery. For both of you!”  She stabbed a black-manicured finger at Giovanni and he retreated as far as the couch would let him.  “And don’t you think I couldn’t do it.”
    “You’d better listen to her, Mina mia ,” he said, a glimmer of his old twinkle lurking in his eye.  “I don’t think either of us would survive very long with this virago after us.”
    Ivy nodded once in satisfaction at his agreement, and then turned back to her friend.
    “You’ve run away from him twice, Mina,” she said, rising from her chair.  “I don’t think you’re going to get a third chance. ”
    Mina stared at her.  Ivy was the one person she had always trusted.  Scary smart, hard-working, and snarky, she hid the biggest heart in the world under seventeen layers of black.  She was no one’s fool, and had said, “fuck off” to more than one pretty face, but she wouldn’t steer Mina wrong if she could help it.
    “You believed his story?” Her voice was soft but steady, and Ivy nodded.  “I did.”
    Mina stood up and straightened her shoulders.
    “I guess I’d better to talk to him, then.”
    As soon as the words escaped she wanted them back.  Her bravery was tissue thin, but fear pressed down on her