It’s nine in the morning, and I’m sitting in my manager Teddy’s office, watching him fume. I hate being up this early, especially because after I woke up from a nap, I ended up drinking and writing all night. Teddy is scowling at me, not saying anything, and I’m fighting to keep my eyes open. I’m just about to doze off in the arm chair in front of his desk when he slams his fist down, startling me back awake.

“Have you seen the papers today?”

I rub my eyes and yawn. “I haven’t even looked at my phone. I got in an Uber and came here. More on the so-called-scandal, I take it?”

“I wouldn’t be so cavalier about this, Daniel. It isn’t just your career on the line here. We need to repair your image and we need to do it fast, before this is all anyone remembers about you.”

It takes all of my considerable willpower not to roll my eyes. “I think you’re blowing this out of proportion, Ted. By tomorrow, there will be some other dumbass celebrity who does something stupider than me, and everyone will forget that I got drunk in a bar and said some… things.”

Teddy turns his computer screen around, and I wince. His browser is open to web page from some celebrity gossip site, and I see a photo of me standing on a bar, holding a microphone, looking hammered. Above the photo is the headline:

Daniel Levinson Gets Drunk; Bad Mouths Former Grammy Winners!

“Is that the picture you want them to use when you win the Grammy or…” Teddy asks, his cheeks getting all red again.

“All right, point taken. So, what do we do?”

Teddy turns his computer screen back around. “First of all, you stop drinking. Now. This is non-negotiable. Second, you stop talking to the press. Do you understand me?”

“Well, I’m a little hungover, so you’ll have to speak up.” I chuckle at my own joke, but Teddy is definitely not amused.

“Very funny, smart ass. Third, you do what I tell you. When I tell you. Starting one week from now when we officially begin your public image rehab.”

I raise a confused eyebrow and lean forward. “What are you talking about? What is happening one week from now?”

Teddy smirks, then hands me folder. It says, “CONTESTANT PACKET: WILD LOVE - TROPICAL ROMANCE EDITION.” I don’t even open it. I just slide it back across his desk.

“Unless you want me to write theme song for that garbage show as some kind of penance, which I’m not thrilled about either, you can just forget it.”

The only reason I even know what Wild Love is because my assistant Mara is obsessed with it. We don’t talk about much outside of work, but every time I’m in a makeup chair, she regales me with stories from her favorite dating reality show. There is always some poor sucker who is sent to an exotic location, and then forced to go on awkward dates with twelve different people until someone fake proposes at the end. The last season took place in the south of France and ended with the bachelor dude disappearing in the middle of the night because he didn’t want to marry any of the women on the show. There was a huge to-do in the media over it, and Mara wouldn’t shut up about it for a month.

Teddy is grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“Oh, you’re going. You don’t have a choice. And when I say you don’t have choice, that’s not hyperbole. They are doing a season with six ordinary every-day schmos and six famous guys, all vying for the love of whatever woman they’ve suckered into doing the show this year. You will be one of the famous guys. You will be charming and handsome and lovable and if they try to force you into the role of the villain, you will resist. This is not a negotiation. You are going.”

I open and close my mouth like a fish gasping for air. “But… the album… The awards… We’re in the middle of writing and recording new material. I can’t leave now to go on some stupid fake dating show.”

“It’s only six weeks. Less if you fuck up and get sent home early. Then a reunion show at the end. The guys write without you for the time being, and you’ll be back in plenty of time for the awards. Right now, it’s vitally important that you repair your image. You can be a bad boy, Daniel. But you can’t be a bloody douchebag. You can’t insult fellow artists who have been a part of the industry for decades and expect there won’t be consequences. There is nothing I can do to fix it. You need to fix it by showing people that you are better than your moment of weakness. This show is your chance.”

I shake my head, incredulous. “How is a reality show going to convince anyone that I’m not an idiot? Isn’t everyone on these shows kind of an idiot?”

“How the hell would I know?” Teddy shouts, throwing his hands in the air. “I don’t watch that stuff. But you’re going to be on with five other guys of varying celebrity, and six regular guys. All I ask is that you either make yourself completely invisible, or charm the pants off this woman. Not literally, of course. I don’t need a whole new kind of scandal.”

I groan and run my hands through my hair. “You’re not going to let me out of this, are you?”

Teddy throws the folder back at me. “Nope. Your plane ticket is booked. You leave at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday.”

“Where the hell am I going?” I ask, suddenly nervous in a way I haven’t been in a very long time.

“Riviera Maya, Mexico. So, pack lots of sunscreen.”

* * *

“Hold on a second. Back up. Can you say that again? You’re going where to do what?”

Cody is staring at me, his jaw dropped, and his eyes wide in disbelief. I’m trying to put everything out my head while I pick at my guitar, but I can’t shake this feeling of pure, impending doom.

“Look. Teddy hasn’t given me an option. Either I do the stupid show or you’re looking for a new lead singer. So, I’m doing the stupid show. I figure I’ll fly under the radar for a few weeks, get a free vacation in Mexico at some fancy-ass house, then get sent home when she realizes I’m not as exciting as I should be.”

Cody takes my guitar out of my hands like a father impatient with his kid who isn’t listening to him. “Do you really think this is going to do anything to make people take you seriously? Won’t this make it worse if you’re on some goofy dating show?”

I snatch my guitar back. “Teddy doesn’t seem to think so. I’ll just put on some extra charm, be a classy dude, and that will be that. I’ll be back in two weeks.”

“Okay, man. Whatever you say. Do you know anything about the woman yet?”

“Not a thing,” I say with a shrug. “No one does. They don’t announce who the lady is until everyone is there. It’s some big part of the first episode. I need to get Mara over to fill me in. I mean, she talks about it all the time. Maybe she can give me some insight on how to stay sane and not get manipulated by the producers.”

“Hey, you never know. Maybe you’ll fall in love with the woman they pick,” Cody says with a grin. I frown at him.

“Yeah, right. That will happen. And maybe wombats will fly out of my ass.”

“Wombats… don’t… fly?”

I roll my eyes. “It was a joke. Does no one find me funny today? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. There is no way I’m going to fall in love with a woman who agrees to go on a reality TV dating show.”

“That’s not fair, man. She could be there for the same reasons you are. Publicity and all that. Don’t believe everything you see on TV.”

I pack up my guitar in its case and grab the rest of the stuff I’ll need from the practice room to take with me to Mexico. I don’t know why, but suddenly, my mind drifts back to Anya, and one of the last times we were together. It was our last show as Asphalt Galaxy, and we had played at a dive bar in the Mission. For some reason, more people showed up that night than we’d ever had at one of our concerts in our history together, and we were all on a high. Anya came to the show for the first time in a month, and she looked frigging beautiful. I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off her all night, and once our set was done, I watched her from the stage as she snaked her way back to the bathroom.

Something sparked in my mind, and I jumped off the stage and followed her. Before she had a chance to close the door, I snuck in behind her, enjoying the shocked look on her gorgeous face.

“What the hell are you doing, Daniel?” she squeaked as I shut the door behind her. I answered her with a passionate, deep kiss, then pinned her up against the wall using only my body.

I don’t know what it was about performing in front of a crowd, but the adrenaline rush made me horny as hell. Or maybe I felt this way because the sexiest girl in the place was mine. I had startled her a little, but she was getting over the initial rush of fear. Anya kissed me back so sweetly. Until she shoved at my shoulders.

“Daniel,” she gasped. “What are you doing? Someone might come in.” She glanced around frantically.

“Nobody’s gonna come in,” I assured her. “I locked the door. I just want you so much right now.”I felt like there was no one else in the world except for Anya and I, and there was nothing I couldn’t accomplish with Anya at my side. And then I’d let it all slip away…

Snap.

Cody’s hand waves in front of my face. “Where the hell did you go, man? I feel like I lost you for a minute.”

I shake the memories of Anya from my head, and gather up the rest of my stuff.

“It doesn’t matter. One thing I can tell you for you sure, Cody. There is zero chance I am going to fall in love with a stranger on the set of a television show.”