TOE TO TOE

A ballerina enlists a sexy male dancer to help her land a big role.

Allegra Hart’s entire life is ballet. From the time she was a small child, she’s worked toward her dream—and now, as a dancer with Ballet New York, she has the chance to get the lead role in her company’s latest production. But her sleazy director tells her he’s not sure she has the sex appeal for the role. Crushed, Allegra gets an idea while attending a male revue for her sister’s bachelorette party—surely the man performing lap dances could help her tap into her latent sexy side? Cord Donovan has no desire to get entangled in the ballet world—he had his own bad experience with dance when he was younger—but there’s something about Allegra he can’t resist. So he starts giving her lessons and assignments, like taking boudoir photos, meant to help her realize her own sensual potential. As Cord and Allegra spend more time together, their instantaneous physical attraction turns into something deeper—but Cord doesn’t want anything to do with the toxic world of ballet, and Allegra worries that a relationship would only derail her focus on her career. Ballard creates a world in which everyone is either a dancer, employed in a sexy profession, or both; for example, Cord’s sister teaches pole dancing. Cord and Allegra have fiery chemistry that leads to some spicy scenes and dances—but that does make it seem slightly unbelievable that they wouldn’t just get over their reservations and pursue a relationship that feels all but inevitable. However, their romantic connection is strong and the details about Allegra’s life in the ballet world are engrossing enough that it’s easy to go along for the ride.

A fun and very steamy romance that explores the inner lives of dancers.