Chapter 1

Scarlet Day stood in front of the mirror in her cabin"s en suite bathroom. She was combing out her hair, newly dyed in a pale lavender she"d always wanted but had never dared to go for.

Until now.

Now, her band, the Scarlet Begonias, had its first album out, it was starting to get radio play, and she was standing in a very nice suite aboard a luxurious, uber-exclusive cruise ship. Her legs felt slightly wobbly, not quite used to the gentle sway of the ship, and there were butterflies in her stomach, although that had nothing to do with the water.

This was a huge opportunity for the Begonias. Ten days on a cruise ship bound for the Galapagos Islands, completely comped in exchange for providing the entertainment, and to an all-sapphic audience at that. The women aboard this ship were exactly the ones the Begonias needed to reach, and if they loved her… it could be the break the Begonias had been waiting for.

Scarlet did her vocal warmups, studying herself in the mirror, making sure not a hair was out of place. The rest of the band was off exploring the ship, but Scarlet couldn"t relax until everything was just right for their first performance. She"d spent hours selecting the set list, wanting to showcase their range while still keeping things upbeat and danceable. Raina, the Begonias" bass player, told her to just go with their usual, but the usual wasn"t good enough.

Not for this.

A knock on the cabin door startled her out of key. "It"s open," she called, expecting one of her bandmates. Instead, Nat Butler stepped into the bathroom doorway, a smile on her face and her long, dark hair flowing free.

"Hey, Scar. I just wanted to say hi. How you feeling?"

Scarlet felt a rush of nerves at the sight of the Nat Butler standing in her cabin. No matter how many times they worked together, never mind the fact that they"d gone out for beers and late-night meals after long sessions in the recording studio, she wasn"t sure she"d ever totally get over the fact that Nat Butler was talking to her.

"I"m good," Scarlet said, finishing her primping and coming out to the main room. "Just getting warmed up."

Nat nodded, her eyes scanning the cabin. "This place is nice, huh? I would have killed for a gig like this when I was starting out."

"It"s amazing," Scarlet said. "We"re really lucky to have your connections."

Nat had retired from performing a couple years ago and started a record label, and the Begonias were one of the first bands she signed. She"d become so much more than just a studio head to them, though, and she was the one who found this cruise and convinced the director, Zoe Bellflower, that it needed a sapphic alt-rock band.

"Happy to help." Nat gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Break a leg out there. Christy and I will be front row, center."

Nat left, and Scarlet checked the time. Forty-five minutes till showtime. She shed the silk robe she"d been wearing to keep her dress neat –it was a flowy royal purple lace that made her hair pop, and it had sewn-in shorts because she was not about to catch a gust of wind and flash her audience on their very first night.

She slipped into a pair of strappy sandals, took a deep breath, then headed up on deck for sound check.

The ship hadn"t left the dock yet. The last of the passengers were boarding now, but the Begonias had come aboard with the rest of the crew to get settled in. The plan was to start the concert just after the captain announced they were setting sail. Even at the dock, the air was salty-smelling and Scarlet could hear seagulls and waves in surround sound as soon as she emerged on the deck.

She found Jess, Tasha, and Raina already at the stage, tuning their instruments and working with the sound engineer to calibrate their monitors.

"Where"s Amanda?" she asked as she joined them.

"Haven"t seen her," Tasha said, strumming her acoustic-electric guitar with her typical look of stern concentration.

"Probably holed up in her cabin with the girl of the hour," Raina answered.

"Shh, don"t say that so loud," Jess chastised from behind her drum kit.

Of the five of them, Amanda was undoubtedly the biggest serial dater. Jess had been with her wife for almost five years now. Raina was aromantic and had a roommate-with-benefits to scratch the occasional itch. Tasha probably wanted a girlfriend but she"d never admit to it, nor would she have the nerve to do anything about it, because as much as Scarlet tried to draw her out of her shell, she tended toward "painfully introverted."

And Scarlet?

Well, she was too busy trying to make the Begonias the biggest band on the planet to bother with things like dating. Did she want what Jess and Dana had? Hell yes. But the Begonias only had so much time to capitalize on this opportunity. She"d date later.

"I still don"t know why she brought Missy on this trip," Raina insisted. "I swear, if she shows up unprepared because she"s too distracted playing house–"

"She wouldn"t do that, right?" Tasha cut in. "She knows how big a deal this is."

Jess rolled her eyes.

"Okay, enough," Scarlet said. "Remember that time in Philly when she disappeared with that bartender during intermission and we had to play without a keyboard for three songs?"

"Okay, guys, stop," Scarlet said. "I"ll find her."

She really could have used this time to do a mic check, but having every member of the band on stage was more important. She couldn"t even blame Amanda for getting caught up in her new girlfriend. It wasn"t like she went into these flavor-of-the-week relationships thinking that"s what they were. Every single time, it was like, Hey guys, I finally found the one. Meet my future wife.

And hell, maybe this time she did find the one. Who was Scarlet to deny her the chance?

Still, she wasn"t gonna let Amanda ruin this opportunity for the rest of them. She called Amanda"s phone, which went to voicemail like she suspected it would. Then she went back downstairs and pounded on Amanda"s cabin door, two down from her own.

No answer.

"I swear to God, if you"re in there and you"re ignoring me…" she called through the door, the threat not formed yet in her head. "I"m… gonna replace you with an accordionist!"

Still nothing. Not responding to a threat like that meant Amanda was not in her cabin. Then where the hell was she?

Scarlet checked the time again, annoyed to find she had less than thirty minutes till go-time. That was enough to make a quick loop around the ship –fortunately it was not a big one –but she"d get back to the stage all sweaty and disheveled.

Damn it, Amanda.

She was just getting back to the stage, no sign of her missing keyboardist while the crowd was beginning to form, when Amanda sauntered up, her arm around the shoulders of a cute little redhead in cut-off shorts and a bikini top. Acting like there was not a damn thing wrong in the world.

Scarlet clenched her jaw, and Jess saved her the trouble of yelling.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to grace us with her presence."

Amanda just grinned, oblivious to Jess"s tone. "Sorry, Missy and I lost track of time."

"You"re cutting it awfully close," Scarlet said as she climbed the stairs at the side of the stage. "We go on in ten minutes."

"It"s a good thing I"m ready to rock," Amanda said breezily, untangling herself from Missy"s embrace and hopping up onto the stage from the front. "I"m all warmed up."

"Great, wish I could say the same about my mic check," Scarlet said. "You understand how important this gig is, right?"

Amanda cut the bravado for just a second as she nodded. "Yes. I understand." Then she cut a sardonic wink in Missy"s direction and added, "Mom."

They all took their places and Scarlet had just enough time to do a quick sound check before the cruise director joined them on the stage, taking over Scarlet"s mic.

"Helllooooooo, ladies!" Zoe shouted, drawing the crowd"s attention. She was surprisingly young, no more than her late twenties like Scarlet, and she wore a flowing floral-print dress with a slit all the way up to her hip bone that, if her announcement failed to grab anyone, would draw the eyes of every last woman on the ship. "Welcome to the best damn cruise you"ll ever go on. For the next ten days, we have an incredible lineup of entertainment, adventures and romantic activities…"

Scarlet swept her eyes over the crowd while she waited her turn at the microphone. Nat was standing just where she said she"d be, front and center with her arm around her wife, Christy. Couples were clinging to each other all through the crowd, sipping on colorful cocktails, bathed in the glow of the setting sun. The ship"s crew all wore crisp white polo shirts and they were dotted through the crowd, passing out hors d"oeuvres on gold platters. There was a teakwood bar off to the right side of the deck, and a few people were lined up there waiting for drinks.

At the end of the bar, standing off by herself, one particular passenger caught Scarlet"s eye.

Maybe it was because she was one of only a few women standing by herself on this couples' cruise.

Maybe it was because she bore more than a passing resemblance to Brie Larson a la Lessons in Chemistry, one of Scarlet"s top celebrity crushes. Hello, professor.

Or maybe it was just because they happened to lock eyes across the crowd and it gave Scarlet an opportunity to drink in her neatly tied back hair, the simple but elegant sundress hugging her curves, the playfulness in the smile she shot at Scarlet…

Damn.

A jolt of electricity shot through her, and then she registered Zoe saying, "…and what better way to kick off this incredible journey than with some live music from the wildly talented Scarlet Begonias?"

Scarlet looked away from the woman at the bar, zoning back into her job here on the stage. She pasted on a grin as Zoe motioned her forward.

"Let"s give them a warm welcome!"

The audience whooped and hollered as Scarlet took her place behind the mic. She glanced back at Jess, who gave her a nod from behind the drum kit, and with one final glance at Ms. Larson by the bar, watching Scarlet with a twinkle in her eyes, they began.

"We are the Scarlet Begonias," Scarlet said, her voice clear and strong, "and we"re here to get this party started!"