1 Chapter 1

Wearing only the sports bra and boyshorts she slept in, Rachel Anderson sat at the foot of the bed, her husband’s phone in her hands as she listened to the sound of water splashing in the shower off the master bedroom. She scrolled through the call history, sure she was right. One number kept popping up over and over again, at odd hours. It was saved in Jason’s contacts with initials only, EC. The last time EC called was last night at three in the morning, when Rachel had been sleeping and naively thought her husband was, too.

Rachel didn’t know anyone her husband knew with those initials. Before her suspicions had been aroused and she checked his phone for confirmation, she would’ve sworn she knew everyone he knew. But she didn’t know any ECs, and she didn’t recognize the number, either.

Then there were the text messages. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands. Many more texts than Jason ever sent her. Whenever he did respond to one of her texts, it was always monosyllabic, okor rightor got it. He never included any terms of endearment, no honeyor lover or babe.Hell, she’d even take a dearnow and then, or wifey. If she mentioned it to him, though, he always said, “Rach, you know I don’t text.”

Except he obviously did, at least with EC. There were early morning texts that started with I dreamed of you last night, afternoon texts sharing what they ate for lunch, end of the workday have a safe drive hometexts, and flurries of sexy texts Jason had to have been writing when he sat beside Rachel on the couch after dinner. She’d seen him on the phone, fingers flying over the virtual keyboard, the hint of a smile on his lips.

“Who is it?” she asked numerous times.

Without fail, Jason simply shook his head and told her, “Someone at work. Let me take this in the other room.” And he’d disappear down the hallway, heading for the bedroom so he wouldn’t disturb her. How considerate.

At least, that’s what she’d thoughthe was doing. But from the look of things, the sexting had turned into Snapchats and Facetimes. There were more dick pics and videos on Jason’s phone than she’d ever managed to find online for free.

He didn’t know that she knew. But he sure as hell was about to find out.

From the bathroom, she could barely hear her husband grunting over the rush of water in the shower. Jerking off, she knew it—she recognized the little uh uh uh noise he made when he was close to climax. Who are you thinking of in there?she wondered. Me, like you’re supposed to? Or this EC character?

She squeezed his phone in both hands, resisting the urge to throw it at the partially shut bathroom door.

He didn’t take much longer—a gasp, “Yeah yeah,” and a final, “God.” Then the shower turned off, and she could hear him breathing heavily as he toweled off his face. Water trickled away down the drain, terry cloth rubbed over wet skin, the mirror above the sink squeaked when he rubbed a spot clean.

Then the door opened and he stepped out, bare ass naked and dripping wet, his cock still at half mast. He was toweling off his hair and didn’t notice her at first. When he did, he grinned. “Hey. What’s up?”

What’s up. As if they were roommates, nothing more. Well, she’d tell him what was up. “Who’s EC?”

Confusion clouded his face, but not before she saw a spark of fear in his eyes. Still, he tried to play it cool. “Who?”

So she was right! His momentary hesitation before speaking said it all.

Holding up his phone, she said, “EC. You two spend a lot of time on the phone together.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped audibly. “Just someone from work,” he lied, unable to look her in the eyes. He played it off by toweling off his chest, but his dick had wilted and he looked almost ashamed.

“Someone from work,” she repeated.

He nodded as he tied the towel around his waist. “Yeah, why?”

“You’re always texting them.” Rachel fought to keep from smirking. She had to admit she was enjoying the way he was trying to squirm out of trouble. “What is it you two talk about all the time?”

“Oh, just this project at work.” He was beginning to sound a bit confident now, probably sure she was buying his lies.

Rachel nipped that in the bud. “One that involves pictures of your dick?” A dull burn rose in his cheeks and he turned away, but she saw it anyway. “You putting that in a PowerPoint or something.”

“It’s not like that…”

It’s exactlylike that,Rachel thought, but no, let him try to talk his way out of it. When he didn’t say anything else, she prompted, “So what’s it like then?”

Jason ran both hands through his tousled wet hair, his gaze resting on the phone in her hands. For a long moment, neither spoke; each watched the other, waiting to see who’d cave first. Newsflash,Rachel thought smugly, I can sit here all day, and the next time EC calls or texts, I’ll be the one answering.