The Agreement

Chapter 3

"Miss Barelli, would you care to sit?" Jacob motioned to two wingback black leather chairs that sat opposite his cherry wood desk.

He confidently and effortlessly slipped behind the desk.

"No, you asshole I prefer to stand." Yanna planted her hands on the glistening desk top, leaning her weight and staring directly into Jacob's emerald green eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are?

His eyebrows raised. He fought the smile that threatened to explode on his face, and also fought the urge to bruise her lips with his own. "Please, Ms. Barelli, sit. This doesn't have to be ugly."

Yanna continued to take deep breaths, but he smiled inwardly as she slowly lowered her body into the chair. As she sat, her knee-length navy blue sheath slip up her hip, and when she crossed her bare legs, Jacob struggled to control his admiration.

"Ms. Barelli, I gather you are here about the agreement between your sister Christina and me. Or should I say...the agreement she refuses to honor."

"Agreement!" Yanna's eyes widened. "You mean whore contract. It's not even legal. You can force someone into an agreement like that."

"Are you an attorney?" He calmly asked interlacing his fingers together and leaning back into his chair. The leather creaked from his weight and movement.

"I'm quite sure you know I'm not. I'm an accountant."

"If you were a good accountant, then you would know about your father's problems."

Yanna's straightened. "I was not privileged to my father's accounts. He preferred not to mix business and family...

"If he had, maybe he wouldn't be about to lose the business."

The flush began at her ankles and creeped its way to her shapely arms and long neck before coming to a vibrant halt at her cheeks. His comment infuriated her.

Even better. How he loved to watch anger in motion.

"Regardless of my father's failure to manage his finances for the restaurant, what gives you the right to try to sign my sister to a whore contract?

"Whore contract? The agreement required her to spend ninety days with me. No where does it mention the word whore."

Yanna rocketed from the chair so fast, Jacob instinctively reeled away from her advance even though the desk still separated them. "Doing whatever is requested. I think that kind of screams whore."

"You're inferred quite a lot from words that were not spoken." He relaxed again, and the leather creaked with another shift in body weight. "Now, if she were agreeable to my ...special wishes, then that is just icing on a delicious cake."

"My sister is not for sale."

"Then Barellis will be closing its doors very soon."

"Why are you doing this? We're just a small family place. What could you possibly have to gain by taking our livelihood?" Yanna stood and straightened her dress.

"Ms. Barelli. I simply entered into a business agreement. Your father has a problem, a serious problem that maybe you should investigate. He's not just behind a few payments. My offer and signed agreement between Christina and me would have eliminated his debt. "

"You're a bastard." Yanna turned her back and headed for the office door.

"Tell me something I don't know, Ms. Barelli."

She whirled and took two steps toward his desk. "It's sad how some people enjoy watching others suffer."

Jacob stood, his large frame nearly blocking the light streaming from the window. "I don't enjoy watching people suffer. I've seen too much. But I do enjoy people paying their debts. I enjoy success."

She watched her swallow hard. "What if I agree to take her place?"

"You?"

"Yes, me. Ninety days with you, and our family debt is paid.