Today should have been the most exciting day of Sasha William’s life.

For starters, she had just been named partner at Kline & Associates, which was one of the top public relations agencies in the entertainment industry.

As if that weren’t enough, she’d recently been featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Post after being named Publicist of the Year by the National Association of Women in Communication. Since she was the first African-American woman to achieve the high honor, it was an enormous feat.

Sasha had worked extremely hard to get to where she was. From growing up on Chicago’s tough south side to making her mark in competitive LA, she’d come quite a long way. And now her reputation for building extraordinary careers, burying salacious secrets, and spinning the scandals of some of Hollywood’s biggest players spoke for itself.

Her promotion to partner, however, did come with a catch. And that catch went by the name of Drake Lancaster.

Drake Lancaster. Talented actor. Rising star. Sex symbol. And pure, unadulterated trouble.

Earlier that morning, Sasha had been sitting happily in her bright, spacious Century City office, the cool white leather interior and splash of color here and there creating a calm, serene atmosphere. She was graciously responding to a slew of congratulatory emails while sipping an iced macchiato laced with three shots of espresso, occasionally staring out at her gorgeous view overlooking the city’s prominent skyscraper-filled skyline.

With Christmastime fast approaching, her workload had slowed down tremendously. Now that her awards and press junket seasons were wrapping up, she was looking forward to leaving sunny LA behind and heading back home to snowy, festive, authentically wintered Chicago to spend the holiday with her family.

Sasha glanced over at the photo she’d taken with her huge family last year during their reunion cookout at Chicago’s Washington Park. She laughed at the bedazzled t-shirts her mother had made for everyone, the bright sequin block letters spelling out The Williams Family Reunion displayed proudly across each of their chests.

Her moment of reminiscence was suddenly interrupted by an urgent email from the agency’s CEO, Nick Kline. Sasha clicked on it immediately and saw that it’d been sent out to the entire staff.

Great news, everyone! Kline & Associates has just signed on superstar actor Drake Lancaster, and our newly appointed partner, Sasha Williams, will be representing him. This is a huge win for both Sasha and the agency. Congratulations, Ms. Williams!

Sasha barely finished reading the message before she jumped up from her desk and stormed into Nick’s office. She teetered through mazelike stacks of books and magazines that were strewn across the floor, past his bulky floor-to-ceiling cherry wood bookcase chocked with vintage classics, and over to his cluttered mahogany desk.

“Nick,” she practically yelled in spite of her best effort to remain composed. “I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to work for me. I’ve already got an overflowing roster of demanding clients. Plus I don’t think Drake Lancaster is a good fit for me.” Let alone this agency, she resisted the urge to add. “I wish you would’ve run this by me before announcing it to the whole office.”

Nick looked up at her somewhat sheepishly, his dark, droopy eyes filled with concern. “Listen, I know that Drake has a reputation for being somewhat of a bad boy, but—”

“Somewhat? Ha!” Sasha scoffed at the politically correct depiction. It was known all over town that Drake was a complete asshole both on and off the set.

“Sasha, can you please just calm down and hear me out? I’m sure you can agree that the guy is extremely talented. His latest action movie Deeper was a huge box-office success, and those big numbers catapulted him straight to the A-list. Repping him would be a win for the both of you.”

“A win for you as the owner of this firm maybe,” she disputed, “but not for me, because I’m the one who’ll have to deal with him. And that A-list status of his is about to tumble down to Z now that producers and directors no longer want to work with him. You know why? Because he’s difficult, temperamental, arrogant, and—”

“And that’s exactly why I assigned him to you. Drake is simply a diamond in the rough who needs a strong, experienced publicist to tame him and clean up his image. Who better for the job than you?”

Sasha stood up straight so as not to appear as deflated as she felt. “Okay. Fine. So what’s next?”

“Glad you asked. Drake and his agent, Damon Ingram, just called to let me know they’ll be stopping by the office to meet with you this morning. The press tour for his Christmas movie Deck the Halls with Love starts next week, so you’ll need to get to work immediately on a publicity strategy.”

“Next week?”

“And because Nick’s a bit…unpredictable, you’ll need to accompany him on the tour. You know…just to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

“But I’m leaving for Chicago this weekend to spend the holidays with my family!”

Nick stared up at Sasha blankly before squaring his round, chubby shoulders and folding his stubby hands on top of a stack of press releases. His posturing was Nick’s way of letting her know that the conversation was over and his decision was final.

Sasha took a deep breath, dug her fingernails into her palms, and spun around on her four-inch sapphire stilettos. “So basically my Christmas is ruined, Drake’s on his way here, and I have no time to prepare. Got it,” she replied through clenched teeth.

“Good luck!” Nick called out as she wobbled toward the door.

The euphoric high of her newly minted promotion quickly fizzled into a puddle of disappointment. It was official. Drake Lancaster was her new client.

Sasha trekked down the hallway, feigning enthusiasm when her coworkers congratulated her on the promotion as well as repping Hollywood’s hottest hottie.