Insatiable Read Online Free PDF Page A

myself. Thinking of a shower just made me think of him taking his shower earlier while I stood there in his room, waiting.
    So instead I settled into the chair by the window that overlooked the corner below. It was Friday night and I was young, but even if I hadn’t been babysitting I’d be staying in the whole weekend to work on the material for Ward. Even though I couldn’t stand him.
    I couldn’t stand not doing a good job. And besides, I thought, Mr. Callaghan is the one who has to deal with him in person from now on . I wouldn’t have to see him again.
    ***
    I went into work Monday morning refreshed and ready to go. I felt really good about the work I’d done over the weekend, and every time I remembered that I didn’t have to deal personally with Ward again I smiled.
    I got to the C&M floor and went for my desk. I’d gotten a nice corner unit as my reward for my last assignment. It wasn’t an office, just a cubicle. But it was mine and I’d earned it.
    Even if it was right below an air conditioning vent. I compensated for that by not taking off my jacket.
    “Hey, Quinn!”
    I cringed, trying to hide the expression. What now? “Trish,” I said, putting a smile on my face.
    Trish reminded me of Ward. Pretty and she knew it. And flaunted it. I would say that she probably woke up early to apply all that makeup, but she was usually late.
    She always let her bottle-blonde hair down. And she always undid the first half-dozen or so buttons of her blouse. I managed to keep my eyes from straying down to her cleavage.
    She also always wore the highest heels she could get away with. Probably to make her ass stick out more. They always gave her a few inches over me, an advantage she pressed at every opportunity.
    Coupled with the heels was the skirt. She always wore a skirt, usually one that ended above the knee, despite the normal dress code at C&M leaning more conservatively.
    She went over to my desk and picked up the plaque with my name on it, moving it back and forth in her hand so that the bead of light running along it kept dancing between the W and R in my surname.
    “So, I heard you screwed up big time with the Ward account.” She caught sight of her own reflection on the plaque and paused the movement of it so she could check her makeup in it.
    “Did you?” I said. I sat at my desk and leaned back in my chair, stretching my legs out into the kneehole. This earned me a squinty-stare. Trish hated that I got the corner desk. I guess she couldn’t find anyone to sleep with who would give it to her.
    I basked in her anger. It was a short-lived basking.
    Trish dropped my nameplate down onto my desk, grinning when she saw how I winced at the clatter. “Yeah, I did. And if you’re not careful, I’ll take it away from you. If you haven’t already lost it, that is.”
    I bristled. I worked so hard to get to where I was. Trish was everything I hated in a coworker. She got ahead on her looks alone, chatting up and sleeping with any man higher up the ladder than her.
    What was worse was how nice to me she’d been when I first started. I recognized it now as her taking advantage of me. I’d helped her out on a few projects for which she then took all the credit. When I confronted her about it she just winked at me and called me gullible.
    She hated me, too, though. Because she knew I got where I was by doing good work.
    What made it worse was that I really did think she was quite pretty. Prettier than I was, definitely. I tried not to let the jealousy get to me, but sometimes it did.
    “I’m not going to lose it,” I replied. I sounded more confident than I felt. Because I remembered the way Mr. Callaghan looked at me at the end of the meeting and I knew Trish might be right.
    And I hated the thought that Trish might get a shot at working on the biggest account C&M had taken on since I started working here.
    “Really?” Trish said. She grinned, ruby-red lips pulling back to show off a set of perfectly white