You’re busy getting ready for work, begrudgingly drying off after a quick shower and brushing your teeth. You stare at yourself in the mirror—tired, drained, and still half asleep.

As you spit toothpaste and froth into the sink you hear your phone beep from the other room, vibrating against your nightstand. You curse yourself internally, hoping it’s not your boss (even though you silently hope it’s actually that your workplace exploded and you don’t have work anymore).

Slipping into a shirt and wandering back into your bedroom, you pick up your phone.

1 New Message

Uh oh.

Sliding past your lock (and typing the passcode wrong

twice

) you eventually make it to your messages app, opening it and almost choking on air.

It’s a photo of Ruth in a sleek, silky nightgown, half raised over her hips to expose her fathomless curves and the soft love handles at her waist. It’s posed

just

right for you to see the bottom of her face, a grin wide and that stupidly attractive tongue piercing on glaring display.

A simple text is attached: ‘

*Kids are gone. Come over?

*’

She

knows

you have work, but she also knows you can’t resist an offer like this. You never have, and you never will.