Sleight of Hand by Marie James

Rating: 4/5
PoP: 6% then not again until 42%
Tropes: One-Night Stand; Enemies to Lovers; Reformed Playboy; Co-Workers
Series: BlackBridge Security #7
POV:  Dual 1st Person

When you pick up this book, go into it know that you are going to want to punch Gaige multiple times throughout the book.  If you have read the start of this series then you know Gaige is the resident playboy who doesn’t do relationships, only because he really doesn’t want one.  Then he meets Leighton.  And what follows is a screw-up of epic proportions on his part and you aren’t quite sure how Marie James is going to be able to bring him back from the ultimate idiotic moves that he makes.  But as the story unfolds, you get just that.  You see Gaige as he fights his feelings for Leighton, and the downward spiral that he creates for himself.

You see him give in to the ideas and feelings that he has and the unknown as to whether or not Leighton feels the same.  Leighton has a hard time trusting Gaige because of the emotional ringer not only he has put her through, but her parents as well.  I adore Leighton, yes, she has been given a crap hand by life and it just seems to kick her while she is down.  However, she doesn’t allow that to bring her down.  She pulls herself up and moves forward.  She pulls herself towards what she wants and needs.  Gaige is just a bonus when he finally shows his true self to her.  Lala, Gaige’s grandmother was just perfect.  The entire family scene with her and the way that it played out was a huge moment in this story.  I really enjoy this entire series of gossipy men who are truly a family of their own creation.  You do not need to read the previous books in this series to know what is going on because while you get smatterings of the other men in the company, their significant others do not play a role.  But you do get a little snippet into the next book, and it is going to be a doozy.  And as always you have to love the dirty talking parrot Puff Daddy.