Top 10 Contemporary Romance bestseller! A self-contained New Adult romance - no cliffhanger ending! Recommended for readers 17+Natasha is one of the most promising ballet dancers at the prestigious Fenbrook Academy of Performing Arts and she's just landed a life-changing audition. But no one knows the guilt she carries...or the damage it makes her inflict on herself when she's alone.Darrell is a multi-millionaire designer at 25. But past traumas have pushed him into isolation and the intense pressure of his work has brought him to the edge of burnout. Seeking inspiration, he sees Natasha dance and hires her as his muse.As she dances for him, the two become entwined in a passionate but troubled relationship. He starts to see the pain inside her and helps her gradually lower her defenses...but Darrell has demons of his own. Can two broken people save each other? Or will the darkness they're hiding consume them both?An extract...I realized I was only an arm's length from him. My last few steps had taken me forward, and normally I would have been near the front of the stage, staring out into the blackness. But here, in this underground room, it put me right up close to him. We locked eyes, and I was breathing harder than I should have been.I sank down into a grand plié, and instead of just watching he crouched, his movements so harsh and cumbersome compared to my own, like watching a giant made of stone. He settled there, huge and hulking, and we stared at each another.I rose, turned, feeling his eyes burning into my back. I pushed off into a pas de chat, airborne for just a second as both legs folded under me, then flowing into a turn as I landed. He was still watching me just as intensely, and he'd taken a step forward. I started to move towards him and something flickered down my body, like darkly sparkling starbursts that set every nerve humming. The dance called for me to take just a single step forward.I took two.I stopped no more than six inches from his body, close enough that he must have been able to feel the heat coming off me, my whole body glowing from the inside. My chest was heaving, my legs trembling. The leotard and tights felt like they were barely there, as if my body was throbbing nude before him.The music stopped.We stood there staring at each other. His eyes were just as clear and striking as before, but they'd lost that innocence, now. They were burning with something even more powerful: lust.I thought I saw his shoulders twitch, as if his hands were moving, and I caught my breath, keeping my gaze fixed on his eyes. My lips parted just a little, my eyes closing. He's going to kiss me! He's going to--He stepped back.My eyes opened and I sort of swallowed and stepped back myself, turning away to hide my blush. For a few seconds neither of us said anything. I didn't know if he was looking at me and I didn't want to risk looking."Was that okay?" I asked, without turning."Beautiful." There was pain in his voice, as if he was sorry it was over. "Could you come back again...tomorrow?" he asked.I nodded. "Sure." I retrieved my clothes and started pulling them on. It took me three tries to get my foot into the leg of my jeans. My hands were shaking as I picked up my bag.When I turned, he was much closer than I expected. I almost walked right into the broad wall of his chest. We both froze, and I looked up at him again. His eyes brightly blue and--And suddenly we were kissing. His palms were on my cheeks, thumbs brushing along the tightly-bound hair at my temples. His lips met mine and they were as gorgeously full and hard-soft as I'd imagined. They felt so right, so like the thing I'd been missing, that I let out a tiny shriek of astonished relief, and that opened my lips. His tongue was between them instantly, searching and pressing, a hot shudder travelling the length of me. I grabbed his arms to keep from falling.