What's not to like about a Caribbean cruise in the dead of winter? In the past five or six years, I've taken quite a few, hitting ports all through the Eastern & Western Caribbean. I've even ventured out to Alaska & the Baltic Sea, but something about warm, clear water teeming with sea creatures makes the Caribbean irrestible. Every time I've gotten on board, I've said to my partner that one of these days, I'd have to set a story at sea.

The character inspiration was a little more difficult. Am I the only one who has noticed the tendency for lesbian couples to look alike? Yes, I know it's a stereotype, but I think it has logical roots. If you find a certain look attractive for yourself, you'll probably find it attractive in other women also. But then there's that thing about chemistry, which can come out of nowhere, having nothing at all to do with how someone looks. I wondered what it would be like to feel that chemistry in a package that didn't conform to one's taste.

The butch-femme dynamic isn't a typical theme for me, but I had a lot of fun with this one. Hope you enjoy it too.