After spending two hours outdoors getting my headshots taken by Finn, I slide into the backseat of the Uber with Finn, grateful to be back inside. He puts an arm around my shoulders and draws me to him. “Cold?”I should pull away. Once I have it, though, his warmth is impossible to reject and feels as necessary as breathing. “A little.”
He squeezes me closer. Moves his hand up and down my bicep. “You’re shivering.”
The driver looks at us in the rearview mirror. “You guys are a cute couple.”
“Thanks,” I say.
Finn arches an eyebrow, pleased—because she thinks we’re together, or because I didn’t correct her? I don’t even want to correct her. I’ve missed the look she’s giving us, the one a woman makes when she’s more envious than jealous. I get it all the time with Nathan. That feeling, coupled with the heater blasting from the front seat, leaves me slightly woozy.
We’re just like actors in a movie, I tell myself. This isn’t real. It doesn’t count. After a few minutes, the urgency to get warm lessens, and the door opens to another less pressing, but still basic need. Because that’s how my arousal feels—essential. The more it’s ignored, the fiercer it grows. I snuggle into his side. All it takes is his hand on my upper thigh to invite an assault of graphic fantasies. Finn shoving me down on the backseat because he can’t control himself anymore. Thrusting his fingers under the hem of my dress to find me ready for him. The lower half of my body aches with sudden demands.
“Some of those photos we just took were for me,” he whispers in my ear. He couldn’t have chosen a worse moment to tease me. My legs are jelly-like. “Does that make you mad?”
I check to see if the driver is paying attention. She must know I’m married. How can something so vital and concrete in my life be hidden? “What if I say yes?” I ask.
“I’ll delete them. If you’re sure it doesn’t . . . turn you on.”
I try not to pant. “Why would it?”
“Imagining me looking at them later.”
I turn my head. Our mouths are a breath apart. One more inch, and they’ll touch. Again. Those lips are the color of sunburnt rock but whisper soft. We’ve done it once. Would one more kiss hurt? I can’t stop the image of him looking at me, my exposed, white throat on his computer, his cock in a firm fist. It should disgust me. It makes my panties damp instead.
“No response necessary,” he says as the car pulls up to the curb. “I can read it on your face.”
Tracey’s ReviewSadie and Nathan Hunt have always had the perfect marriage. Really, that’s how people introduce them, and Sadie has always believed that they lived up to it. Until lately. Lately, Nathan isn’t the husband that he’s always been, and Sadie is left feeling alone and confused. When new neighbor Finn Cohen moves in, he and Sadie begin spending time together. A lot of time. Before long, Sadie is finding Nathan’s distance a little more tolerable, but when lines begin to blur, deciding what matters most will take everything she has.
This book absolutely wrung me out. I mean, the emotions, people. It was like a roller coaster; you’re hanging on for dear life, but can’t stop the ride because it’s that thrilling, that enthralling. That’s what reading SLIP OF THE TONGUE was like for me.
I had read previous books by author Jessica Hawkins, and enjoyed them, so was really looking forward to this story. Forbidden romance, possible love triangle, what wasn’t to like? Oh.My.Goodness, I am telling you, this book. I got immediately and completely sucked in, and believe me when I tell you that I read later than I have in forever just so that I could finish this book, because I could not put it down.
The characters are complex in SLIP OF THE TONGUE; Jessica has done a great job of creating a realistically possible situation, along with characters that seem more human and easier to relate to than not. There were elements that I liked and did not like in Sadie, Nathan, and Finn, things that made it understandable, though not acceptable, regarding the choices that they made. Some of my favorite characters were actually supporting ones, especially Sadie’s boss, Amelia, and Sadie’s brother, Andrew, and niece, Bell (she was hoot; she’ll be kicking butt and taking names in a few years, bet on it).
SLIP OF THE TONGUE is a book that I had waited for with anticipation, and I can happily say that it does not disappoint. This book is an emotional, realistic, sometimes gritty read, and gets a solid 4.5 stars from me. I look forward to reading more from Jessica in the near future, and wouldn’t mind seeing Andrew get his own story. Grab this one and read it. I feel certain that you will not regret it.
***ARC generously provided by the publisher for an honest review.***
Jessica Hawkins grew up between the purple mountains and under the endless sun of Palm Springs, California. She studied international business at Arizona State University and has also lived in Costa Rica and New York City. To her, the most intriguing fiction is forbidden, and that’s what you’ll find in her stories. Currently, she resides wherever her head lands, which is often the unexpected (but warm) keyboard of her trusty MacBook.
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