Page 58 of Bitten By Desire
I don’t know what I’m doing…I didn’t come here to open up a savings account. Or whatever this was. But Zoey did say these guys were wizards with investments. My hand still hovered over the document though. Just because Zoey could afford an expensive house didn’t mean it was because of her investments. I was pretty sure that had something to do with her married clients and phallic fruit.
“Is your pen out of ink?” Titan asked. “You can use mine.” He nodded to a gold pen in a matching gold holder. My pen wasn’t out of ink. But for some reason I reached out anyway. It was almost like the pen was calling to me. It was heavier than the plastic one I’d been using, and I wondered if it was made of pure gold.
I looked back down at the unsigned page.
Titan had been nothing but professional. Except for the way he kept staring at me. Yeah, he wasn’t staring at me professionally at all. And maybe the way he was rushing me through all these signatures didn’t seem very professional either. This whole thing just felt off.
“Um…can I talk to Bennett about all this first?” I asked.
“He should be finished up just about the same time we are.” He glanced at his pen in my hand, like he was impatient for me to get this over with.
But I wanted to discuss it with Bennett before I put my final signature on the page. “I think maybe I should read through some of these documents and get back to you…”
“Do I make you nervous, Emma?”
I stared at him.Yes.“No, I just didn’t come in here today to open an account.”
“You have nothing to worry about. We’re backed by the FDIC. Besides, I would never let anything bad happen to you.”
I laughed uneasily. “But you don’t control the stock market. Or whatever you’re investing in. So you can’t really promise that.”
“Trust me, our investments are more secure than that.”
There were no secure investments. It was all a gamble. My eyes wandered back down to the line for my signature. But I got distracted by Titan’s pen. There was an engraving on the side, but it wasn’t words. It was small pictures. Or symbols or something. I couldn’t quite make them out. I ran my finger along the indented images. “What does this mean?”
He reached out and took my hand in his. Instead of taking the pen back he leaned forward. He ran his thumb down my palm like he was inspecting my life line instead of the symbols on the pen. “It’s a good luck charm. To ward off evil.”
“How does it ward off evil?”
“It burns your hand.”
“Wait, what?” I tried to pull my hand out of his, but he gripped it tighter.
“Good news, doll. You’re as innocent as Bennett thought.” He let go of my hand.
What the hell is happening?
“Sign the page and I’ll take care of you. We all will.”
There was something comforting about that. Yes, Titan was intimidating. But all the tellers had seemed kind. And I knew Bennett liked me. He wouldn’t let Titan drain my bank account or anything. And if he did…it was insured by the FDIC. I signed the page. And for some reason it felt weird. Like I was signing away my life.
“Very well,” Titan said and grabbed the pages back from me.
I looked back down at the pen once more and then reached out to hand it back to him. But he was scanning the pages to make sure I’d signed everything. I placed the pen back into the holder just as Bennett opened the door.
“Sorry about that, Emma,” Bennett said. “Did Titan take care of you?”
I was still staring at the pen holder, vaguely aware of the fact that Titan hadn’t once touched the pen. Would it have burned him?
“Emma?”
“What? Oh, yes,” I said and looked back at Titan. “He took care of me.”
The corner of Titan’s mouth ticked up as he stared at me.
“I got held up in a meeting,” Bennett said. “But lunch will be here any minute. Let’s go to my office.”
I didn’t know what kind of meetings made bank managers leave the bank. But I didn’t press it because when I turned to look at him I was much more concerned about his face. “Bennett.” I quickly stood up. “You’re bleeding.” I touched my bottom lip to show him where the cut was on his face.
