Falling For You

Chapter 1

Moriah

"I'm going to have to let you go." The three-time country music award-winning artist, Carter Stockhill tells me as I pour the remaining frothed milk into his chocolate mocha lattes. He's asked me to make one every single day for the past five years–even though it wasn't my job.

"What do you mean?" I ask cautiously not quite understanding what he's saying. It was as if my brain short-circuited the moment he opened his mouth.

"As in you're fired." Carter's broad shoulders flex as he crosses his shoulders. That dirty blonde hair that initially made his fans craze over him was starting to recede as he reached his early thirties. His mouth frowns in a tight line that I had learned quickly its meaning over the years. The face that meant he was serious business. My brain in no way acknowledges this fact, however.

"From making coffee?" My voice lilts in a high octave. My hands freeze over the frother as I take in his piercing blue-eyed glare.

It would be a relief to be let go from this aspect of the job. I started as Carters PR manager. It was essentially my role to organize and schedule all of his press releases, interviews, social media accounts–everything Carter.

Unfortunately, he took that literally and started having me do everything in his life. I was a glorified assistant, and I did the job with grace and joy because that's who I am. Moriah with a smile. So I give him just that— one of my prize-winning smiles that used to garner my dad's favor for everything I asked growing up. The goal was to have just the right amount of eye twinkle.

It works because for a moment Carter looks stupefied, a look of wonder crosses his face. It doesn't last though. The second it shows, it's gone and instead, his jaw tightens further.

"No Moriah, I no longer want you to work for me." He says each word slowly and precisely to emphasize the fact that he indeed is firing me. Blinking repeatedly, I internalize his words, the shock of it finally settling in.

"Why?" Something in me breaks. It feels like a punch to the gut. I'd been working with Carter essentially right out of college. After finishing my degree in public relations from Cornell, I was offered a highly sought-after internship with one of the biggest PR firms in the northeast. I excelled and was first in line for the position to become Carter's PR manager by the end of the two-year program with the firm.

Carter coughs and a grumble of mucus catches in his throat. Maybe that or awkwardness. I couldn't be certain.

"Well, Jamie thought it might be best for my career if I went with a manager that suited my lifestyle, and to me."

Ah, now it's making sense. Jamie, Carter's recently "serious" girlfriend who from the second entered his life saw me as a threat. And speaking of the devil, her little blonde ponytail wisps in the corner of my eye. She must've been peeking from the corner listening in. Of course, she orchestrated the entire thing.

When she entered Carter's life it became everything Jamie's world and what she said went. From what she thought was best for his social media presence, to what outfit he should wear to the Grammys, she'd find a way to step on my toes and my job the entire way. The two had only been dating for a year now, and for the past year, she has been a threat to my job. And it looks like she finally gets her wish.

"Let me guess, Jamie thinks a man would be better suited for the job?"

Carter raised a brow. "Yes actually, how did you know that?"

How did I know that? Please. The woman is constantly threatened by the presence of any other breathing female creature that is around Carter. I swear I've seen her nose turn up when Carter's mother is in town.