The messages were simple, but foreboding. Their short, intense dive into a dark world of sex and politics was thrilling, but quickly brought danger with it. It seemed once two people in politics touched sexual parts, they were transparent to everyone else around them. She felt it like a scarlet letter on her conservative blouses, the kind she liked to unbutton to show the tops of her breasts when it was just her and Marcus left in the office.<em>No, now's not the time for that.</em><br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;">Debrief later?</span><br/><br/>The message was simple, cryptic to outsiders. She always felt paranoid should their phones ever be searched, even though at that point her career would probably be on the decline anyway. Sometimes things got salacious, but she installed just about every app known to man that promised to virtually shred her messages in order to ensure their destruction -- but only after reading them one more time alone in the bathroom on a quick break when work allowed it.<br/><br/>Corinne sunk down in her plush office chair and tapped her coral-painted fingers against the desk. She glanced up, catching the eye of another woman across the office who seemed to be staring. They both quickly looked away in embarrassment, but she found herself stealing another look, unwittingly fascinated even for a brief second. Suddenly snapping out of whatever compelled her, she shot her eyes down to the screen of her phone again and tapped out a quick message, only thinly hiding her intentions behind the veil of business as usual.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;">I've got a lull today. We should go out and have a conference over lunch.</span>