Insatiable (2 page)

I knew which room Ward was in because I’d made the arrangements for his stay here. I made it to the elevators and hit the button to call one, taking a moment to brush a few stray strands of hair off my forehead.

C&M had comped Ward this stay. The man was a billionaire.
Couldn’t he afford his own hotel room?
That was a thought I needed to keep to myself if I wanted to keep my job.

The elevator was just as opulent as the hall, and it was fast.

I started down another hall. This one lined with doors. Though not so many as I was used to finding in hotel halls.
They’re suites,
I remembered. Nothing but the best for Vaughn Ward. I didn’t even have to look at the numbers to find his room.

I didn’t have to look because of the yelling. Something inside told me that it was Ward’s room.

My pace slowed.
How am I supposed to handle this now?
I wondered. I’d originally intended on knocking on the door, hoping that Ward might answer and then come down with me. Now it sounded like knocking might put me right in the middle of whatever was going on in there.

There were two voices doing the yelling. A man and a woman. Though the woman’s voice dominated.

I crept closer, the words becoming more distinct.

“
That’s nice? What the hell does that mean, Vaughn?
”

“
It means like it sounds. It’s nice.
” A male voice, made deeper by its passage through the door.

I hadn’t realized that he’d brought his girlfriend, too. And the thing was, I couldn’t remember her name.

I do a lot of research before new assignments. Research on our clients so that I can do the best possible job. Except I always try and keep it as professional as possible. I stick to the stock reports, the business headlines. That sort of thing. And that means staying away from the supermarket checkout tabloids.

And I had to admit that in this case it was difficult to stay away from the popular pieces. Vaughn Ward was quite the character, to put it politely. The kind of guy who seemed to date a new model or actress every couple months while somehow also increasing his company’s share of the market.

“
I can’t believe you!
” the woman said. Something, probably an expensive something, crashed and shattered on the floor. I winced.

And then I crept closer to the door. Curiosity, I guess. It’s not every day you get to hear a billionaire get into a domestic dispute.

I cringed, second-guessing myself. What, was I going to press my ear to the door next? Maybe try to get a peep through the keyhole?

No
, I decided,
I’ll go back down and tell Mr. Callaghan that Ward is... indisposed. Yeah, that’s a good word for it!

I didn’t relish being the bearer of bad news. Especially not bearing it to one of the owners of the firm. But what else could I do?

Then the door to Ward’s room opened. “Oh!” I said before I could stop myself.

A beautiful, if dishevelled woman stood in the darkened doorway, looking at me. Her blonde hair was in disarray. She’d pulled on her dress without bothering to zip it up, and wore only one heel. The other dangled from her hand.

For a moment there I felt the pure hatred and shock in her eyes fix on me.

“Don’t go, baby,” Ward said, coming around the bed, sidestepping the spray of shattered glass on the carpet. He was shirtless, I saw. In nothing but a pair of plain cotton boxers.

My first impression of Vaughn Ward was that he was handsome. Possibly the most handsome man I’d ever seen who wasn’t being projected on a movie screen. Dark hair, smoky eyes, the perfect amount of stubble darkening his jaw. And tall.

Not only that, but a handsome-and-he-knows-it kind of guy. The kind of full-of-himself man who thinks he’s God’s gift. The kind of man I always stayed away from in high school, college, and everything after that. Tried to, anyway. They were trouble.

It wasn’t a very good first impression. The beautiful blonde blocking the doorway looked at me with wet eyes, her pretty lips pulled into a grimace. I felt like I should tell her I was sorry, but for what, I had no clue.

“Good luck,” the pretty blonde said.

“I... uh... pardon me?” I replied, my eyes kept trying to stray back to that semi-nude figure in the darkness behind her.
Keep it professional!

She smiled, then. More a grimace, I guess. Full lips pulling back, nothing touching her eyes.

“Stacey, come back. We can talk about this,” Ward said. I noticed then how tousled his hair looked. And the bedclothes were all kicked down and balled up.
Oh
, I thought.

Stacey squinted, keeping her eyes fixed on me. “That would be
nice
, wouldn’t it, Vaughn?”

“Hey, come on, don’t be that way,” Ward said.

And then Stacey looked at me like she saw me for the first time, one pump still hanging from her finger. “You better watch out, girlie, or Vaughn might be
nice
to you, too.” She said it low enough so that only I heard it.

Behind her, Vaughn frowned, a small wrinkle forming on his strong brow.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I said, wishing that I hadn’t done so well on my last assignment to earn this big “opportunity” of working on new material for Ward.

Then Stacey pushed past me, walking lop-sided down the hall. I watched her odd gait until she disappeared into the elevator. A cold sweat had started on the small of my back while I wondered just what I’d gotten myself into.

Then I noticed that Vaughn Ward stood in the doorway in front of me, leaning out so that he could watch Stacey go.

There couldn’t have been more than a few inches between us. I could smell him, then. There was something fresh in his smell, something clean about his sweat.

Heat rushed up into my cheeks and I backed up a couple steps. Ward noticed me, then. I tried not to notice that his eyes were a deep, chestnut brown full of a warmth I wouldn’t have expected.

“The meeting?” he prompted. Then his eyes made a quick flick up and down my body.
Why the hell did I have to wear this stupid skirt suit today?

Be professional
, followed quickly on that thought’s heels. I knew that if I played it cool with Ward, that if I toed the line, I would impress Callaghan and get on with my career.

That was it, I knew. Ward was a stepping stone, that was all. A beautiful, tall, sculpted, nice-smelling stepping stone whose eyes make me want to smile.

I think my knee-jerk physical attraction to him made me like him even less.

“Yes, the meeting. We... we have everything set up for you down in the conference rooms. Mock-ups of some TV commercials and a few banner ads placed on specific sites targeted to certain demographics that we feel will...”

He held up one hand to silence me, one corner of his mouth cocking up in a crooked smile. “Sounds good. I’m going to hop in the shower. Worked up something of a lather...” he said, clearing his throat and tossing a look over his shoulder at the dishevelled bed, “Come on in. Grab a drink out of the mini bar. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“No, thank you...” I started, intending to tell him I’d go tell Mr. Callaghan he’d be down shortly. Except Ward grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside.

The door swung shut behind me, locking me inside with Ward, locking me away from the comforting safety of the hall with its elevators and emergency exits.

“Would you like me to call someone to check on Stacey?” I said.

Just for a second, that roguish veneer of his cracked. His crooked smile faltered and he ran one hand up the back of his head, squeezing the dark hair there.

Quick as it came, it went. He smiled again, “Don’t worry about her.”

Normally I didn’t like intruding on other people’s business. However, nothing about this situation could be called normal, I thought. Besides, the nerves along the front of my stomach were practically singing.

“So you’re going to let her go? Just like that?” I said.

Vaughn, who’d been turning to go take his shower, paused. He looked at me. There was a bar of light coming in through the window and it sliced across his bare torso.

He shrugged. “Just like that. Women come and go...” he glanced over at the bed and then amended his statement with, “Pun intended. Have a drink.”

I frowned at his back as he walked into the washroom. The hiss of water followed soon thereafter.
Pun intended? What an asshole!
I thought.

Still, in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help wondering what he was like. I shook my head,
It doesn’t matter what he’s like, because he’s a jerk
.

I’d been standing so stiffly I hadn’t noticed until my back started complaining. Without thinking, I almost sank down onto the foot of the bed. “Yeah, let’s not do that.”

I almost sat down in a nice wingback beside the mantle but stopped myself. It would be just my luck for Mr. Callaghan to send someone else up here to check on
me
only to find me relaxing.

If that happened, he’d probably bump me from the job and give it to Trish. And I wasn’t about to let that happen. Trish, another junior exec from the firm, would love to see me taken down a peg or two.

“You seem a little young to be at this meeting.”

I jumped at the sound before realizing that Vaughn hadn’t bothered closing the door to the bathroom. Steam crept out along the floor.

He was just standing in the shower stall, naked, the water sluicing down his body. I blushed, even though from here I couldn’t see him.

He seemed so open, like he couldn’t be embarrassed. I was used to normal people. Normal, polite people who closed their bathroom doors and who didn’t make lewd puns to girls they just met.

I guess being famous and having bank accounts with sickening numbers of zeroes by the balance took away that sort of propriety, though.

“Still there?” Vaughn said again.

“Y... yes,” I said. I didn’t know if it was the steam from the shower or my own body temperature rising. Whichever it was, it was too hot in there.

Am I allowed to tell a client that they’re wasting time?
Part of me wanted to. Especially after seeing how distraught that girl Stacey had been.

Vaughn Ward needed someone to put him in his place. But that someone couldn’t be me, I knew. One word of any lip to Mr. Callaghan and I’d be lucky to be working in the mail room.

Then the water stopped hissing. Ward emerged from the steam in nothing but a towel. Not wearing a towel, just holding one up to his face while he dried his cheeks and chin.

At least it fell down far enough to cover everything up.

“Oh, I’ll just wait in the hall,” I said.

“Stay. I insist,” Ward replied. I turned away from him just as he tossed the towel to the bed.
Does he have no shame?

“You do look young,” he said. I could hear him pulling on his clothes, “You must be good at your job.”

“I am,” I replied. I bristled at the compliment. I didn’t want any compliments from him.

“Good. Hey, you probably know who handled booking the room for me I’ll bet. Do me a favor and tell them I prefer staying at the Harbor. This place is a bit... tacky for me. No accounting for taste, right?”

My eyebrows tried climbing off my forehead. Who did this guy think he was?
One of the richest, most eligible bachelors in the world. A man with so much influence he could make sure you don’t work in any first world country again if he so chose
, my brain answered my rhetorical question.

Shut up
, I shot back at myself. He was just another entitled, rich, handsome, womanizing jerk.

So I put on my best smile and turned around. Ward was hopping around on one foot, trying to pull his slacks up. He saw me looking and sat down heavily on the bed.

He smiled in a bashful way I was certain just about any woman with a functioning set of ovaries would find endearing and charming. I wasn’t just about any woman, though.

I guess even rich jerks put their pants on one leg at a time.

“Yes, actually, I do know. I know because the person who handled your accommodations was me. And no, there isn’t any accounting for taste,” I said, giving him a pointed look before turning to face the corner again.

Behind me there was only silence. I could feel him looking at me.
Oh God, Quinn, what did you do? You didn’t really just say that, did you?

But I did just say it, I knew. My knees started trembling, cool anxiety flooding my stomach. I have no idea why I said that. I wasn’t like that. I wasn’t that sort of person. There was just something about Vaughn Ward that brought out the worst in me.

And I’d only met him a few minutes ago!

I braced myself, waiting for him to tell me that he meant to inform my boss of my attitude.

He laughed instead. It was a rich chuckle. “Now I can tell why you have this job,” he said. I heard him pull his zipper up.

I bristled some more, somehow upset that he wasn’t upset with me. He didn’t react or behave at all like I expected. I didn’t like that. I liked predictable, dependable.

“I guess you’ll know better for next time, then. Let’s get going. I think we’re pretty late!” Ward said, chuckling again. He walked over to the door and pulled it open, light spilling in from the hall.

I hated how good he looked in that suit. I hated him holding the door open for me, waving me out with one hand.

V
AUGHN

Every second step I took, I thought about Stacey. I ached deep inside when I recalled the hurt look on her face, when I recalled how I reacted to her confession of her feelings.

I reacted like I always did. With humor. With pushing away. I couldn’t help it. They were automatic defense mechanisms that kicked on whenever something like that happened. As inevitable as the ebb and flow of the tide over in the Boston harbor.

The too-young executive girl walked in front of me, and I couldn’t help letting my eyes slide down her slate-gray skirt-suit. I admired the way it outlined her body, going in at the waist and flaring in again at the hips.