Bella Vita

Bella Vita

by

Sydney Canyon

Bella Vita © 2014 Sydney Canyon

Triplicity Publishing, LLC

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without permission.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events of any kind, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition – 2014

Cover Design: Triplicity Publishing, LLC

Interior Design: Triplicity Publishing, LLC

Also by Sydney Canyon

Fine

Igniting Temptation

One Night

Shadow's Eyes

Light Reading: A Collection of Novellas

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the Canuck Down Under for giving me your honest opinion.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife for all of the crazy adventures we go on.

Chapter 1

Brady Mohan walked down the dock with a worn overnight bag slung over her shoulder, heading towards the white, 128 foot luxury Italian yacht tied up at the end. A few people said hello to her and waved as she passed by. She'd been the First Officer of the Bella Vita, a luxury charter yacht, for the past year and a half and had got know many of the locals living at the marina while she'd been in port between charters.

She often enjoyed the 24 to 48 hour break between charters, sitting in the marina bar talking to locals and catching up on emails from her family. She hadn't been back to the States in nearly three years. She'd become accustomed to the yachting life and preferred to live in the islands. She'd worked on multiple charter yachts in the past eight years, steadily increasing her pay and position on each boat, until landing her current job.

Many of the yacht crews knew each other and often moved from boat to boat. The captain of the Bella Vita had worked with Brady on another yacht, three years prior, where she was the First Mate. He'd hired her right away as his First Officer when he heard she was interested in the job. She'd made a few hires of her own and the group meshed well together. In the past year, they'd only replaced two of their nine crew members and were able to keep up with their tight schedule of back to back charters with little to no issues.

~

Captain Edward Smith stood on the open deck on the bow of the boat with his arms crossed, scratching his thin white beard. He watched Brady make her way towards the boat in a white t-shirt, khaki shorts, and tan flip flops. Her tanned skin, from long hours in the sun, contrasted against the lighter clothing. She had her worn brown leather bag over her shoulder and a baby blue ball cap with Bella Vita stitched in dark blue across the front. It covered her short, light brown hair.

He trusted her as his second in command and was slowly grooming her to become the captain she longed to be. He'd heard the ambition in her voice and seen the gleam in her eye the day they'd met and they'd been friends ever since.

~

Brady reached the end of the dock and pulled her sunglasses off. Squinting her hazel eyes, she looked up at the man on the bow of the boat, who was already dressed in the sharply creased white shirt, black pants, and skipper hat of his captain's uniform. He had a gold anchor and three gold stars on the black shoulder boards of his shirt and Bella Vita was stitched in black over the left breast.

Smiling, she saluted and yelled, Permission to come aboard?

He grinned and waved. Permission granted.

Brady pushed her sunglasses back on and stepped onto the stern of the yacht at the lower deck. The aft section of the lower deck housed the tender garage, which housed two jet skis, a RIB skiff, and a closet full of diving and snorkeling gear, as well as other miscellaneous water toys. When the boat and jet skis were out, the room opened into a water level lounge for swimming.

She walked up one of the two outside staircases that went around the glass bay doors of the tender garage and made her way through the main deck, which housed the main salon with an enclosed lounge area that expanded the width of the yacht and had large windows down both sides. It had chairs, chaises, couches, and a full bar, all decorated with the finest Italian fabrics, wood, and marble. The dining area was another wide area, also expanding the width of the yacht and located just forward of the main salon with a large dining table in the middle and eight chairs surrounding it. The lobby was slightly past the dining area. This was where the large guest staircase was located that allowed the guests to moved up and down the four decks of the ship. A much smaller crew staircase sat behind it, allowing the crew to also move up and down the decks of the ship in the areas they were needed in the most and without being seen on a regular basis. The galley was next to the dining area and behind the lobby area. Just past the galley near the crew staircase was the laundry room with two washing machines and two dryers. On the other side of the room was a storage closet with life vests, guest towels and toiletries, and clean linens. The large master suite was forward of the laundry room, taking up the entire bow section.

She took the crew staircase in the galley down to the lower deck and walked through the crew mess, which was essentially were the crew lived during charters. There was a large mess table with bench seating on one side built into the side boat that wrapped around like a horseshoe. The opposite side of the table had cabinets and shelving over the counter that held two coffee pots and two microwaves. A 32-inch flat screen TV was mounted next to the cabinets. A small hallway off the crew mass led to the four crew cabins, two on each side, with double bunks.

Once inside her small cabin, she stuffed her bag into her tiny closet and changed into her crew dress uniform, consisting of the same crisp white shirt as the captain, with stitching over the left breast and black pants, unlike the rest of the crew, who wore black shorts or skirts and black non-skid sneakers. Her shirt had the same gold anchor on the shoulder boards, but with four gold stripes on them indicated her rank of First Officer. When the yacht was underway, the crew wore their working uniforms, which were much more casual and consisting of white polo style shirts with Bella Vita stitched in dark blue on the front and matching blue shorts with tan leather deck shoes.

Brady put her hat in her closet and checked the mirror. She noticed more blond highlights from her long hours in the sun. She kept her light brown hair in a short pixie cut that was spiky and messy on top and tight around her ears and collar. It always looked liked she'd just gotten out of bed. She smiled at the swirl of green and brown in the hazel eyes staring back at her before turning towards the cabin door. She was just about to the leave the room when she heard loud singing coming towards her. The door swung open and a slender black man meandered inside, bobbing his head to the Rasta beat blaring from his headphones and singing along to the music. His smile widened when he saw Brady shaking her head.

Eh, mon! he said, smacking her on the shoulder as he squeezed by her. My sista from another mista! He spoke in his heavy Jamaican accent.

Tre, have you been smoking ganja? she laughed. He reminded her of Chris Rock with his big smile and larger than life personality.

Mi nah burn da herb! Ease up, ooman, he replied between song lyrics, shaking his head.

Just checking. She smiled as she walked out of the cabin.

Tremaine Gibbs was the chef on the yacht, as well as her cabin mate. Brady had known him almost five years. He was the first hire she'd made as the First Officer of Bella Vita after she'd recruited him from another charter vessel. They'd worked together on few different yachts over the years and had become good friends.

Brady took the crew stairs back up to the main deck where she ran into Katie, the Chief Stewardess of the yacht, going over her pre-charter checklist in the main salon. Katie's honey colored hair was pulled back in a tight bun at the back of her head and she was dressed in the same crew uniform as Brady, except her shoulder bars had only two gold bars on them, indicating her rank the Chief Stewardess aboard the ship.

Another day, another charter, Katie said when she noticed Brady walking towards her.

Another thousand dollars in your pocket if you play your cards right, Brady retorted. How are we looking? she asked, taking a look at the clipboard in Katie's hand.

"We're at 98% right now. Anna and Mayte are finishing