tl;dr: great friends with benefits story that has a bit of a draggy middle
The Story:
Dance With Me picks up a few months after the end of Take The Lead, and brings us to Natasha’s life post-Gina. The first book in this series ends with Gina, Natasha’s roommate, best friend, and coworker on The Dance Off (a fictional Dancing with the Stars analog) leaving behind the realm of reality TV to star in a Broadway musical and hop around the world with her former dance partner and lover, Stone. It becomes clear pretty early on in the book that Natasha depended on Gina for a lot of things, and now that her support system is gone, she’s scrambling to pick up the pieces of her life and make her own way.
Natasha feels her life caving in on itself when the roof of her apartment literally caves in, destroying much of her clothing and furniture and leaving her home unlivable. She is struggling to pay her bills, she’s teaching half a dozen (or more) dance classes, and she keeps making questionable choices regarding money and men. When her frequent booty call partner, Dimitri, calls her up in the middle of her cleaning up the wreckage of her apartment, she snaps at him, something she doesn’t tend to do.
So Dimitri shows up at her place, hoping to use the opportunity to show her that he’s more than a good time guy. He convinces her to move into his giant house and lavishes her with attention, although he continually puts his foot in his mouth and makes her feel like a tramp. Natasha is nervous about the whole arrangement, because if word gets to the producers of The Dance Off about her shacking up with not only a coworker, but one of the judges, she’ll be in danger of losing her job.
The Story: