Secrets Between Friends

Simona has spent six years perfecting the lie. At fifteen, she watched her stepbrother Dakota laugh in the passenger seat of his mother's Civic and knew-with the awful, sudden clarity of a girl who reads too many novels-that she was ruined. Six years later, she's still ruined. She just hides it better. Behind expensive lipstick. Behind unavailable boyfriends. Behind the acceptable version of herself that shows up to Sunday dinners and passes the mashed potatoes without her hand shaking. Then Marco cheats. Then Tyler cheats. Then-on a rain-slick Tuesday in her best friend's SoHo loft, three vodkas deep and finally, catastrophically honest-Simona says the name out loud. Coco has been waiting. Her best friend since junior year, Coco has spent longer than she cares to admit cataloguing the way Simona looks in swimsuits, in changing rooms, in the amber hush of Coco's kitchen at 2 a.m. She knows the confession isn't the real problem. She knows exactly what Simona needs, because Coco has wanted the same thing for longer. One kiss becomes one night. One night becomes an unraveling. And when the afterglow finally cools enough for words, Coco asks the question that will change everything: *What if we don't have to choose?* *What if we invite him in?* A slow-burn erotic novel about the friendships that hide our darkest wants, the secrets that keep us small, and the dangerous, delicious moment a woman stops apologizing for what she craves. Told in lush, unflinching prose that lingers on every gasp, every confession, every stolen inch of skin, *Secrets Between Friends* is a debut about taboo, trust, and the intoxicating terror of finally being seen. For readers of forbidden longing, sapphic awakenings, and the kind of stories that make you close the book, breathe, and pick it right back up. Some secrets aren't meant to stay buried. Some are meant to be shared. *Contains explicit adult content, taboo themes, and characters who refuse to behave. 18+ readers only.*