The Love Doctors
Page 1
The Love Doctors
Bella Fontaine
Khardine Gray
Bliss Romance Publishing
Copyright © 2019 by Khardine Gray
The Love Doctors
All rights reserved.
USA Today Bestselling Author Khardine Gray writing as Bella Fontaine
Cover design © 2019 by Net Hook & Line Design
This work is copyrighted. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The author asserts that all characters and situations depicted in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations.
It is intended for mature readers. All characters are 18+ years of age and all sexual acts are consensual.
Contents
This is what happened when the diva met her match…
The Love Doctors
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
This is what happened when the diva met her match…
Jada
They call me The Love Doctor.
Dr. Jada Dane, New York Times Bestselling Author of the revolutionary novel, Go with the Flow.
Love is my middle name, and this goddess earns a good living guiding lost women to it.
I have 3 simple rules of love:
1.Do not date scrubs- they have no money.
2.Know your worth and be picky.
3.Don’t be afraid to kick timewasters to the curb. If he’s into you you’ll know from the get go.
That’s it.
Maybe I got too comfortable with my fame and fortune, because I never saw that no good, Ivan St. James, coming my way.
The ex-quarterback and newly turned advice columnist for the L.A Times became my biggest competition overnight and tried to shake the foundation of my business.
He thinks he’s the love doctor, but I am.
He thinks he can make any woman fall for him, even … me.
No, no, I don’t think so.
No way am I going to allow his good looks, perfect body, and his perfect everything to fool me.
So I gladly accepted his stupid challenge when he served it up on the table.
I thought I had it in the bag.
There was no way in hell that I would be with a man like him.
A man who was trying to take what was mine.
But… damn my luck... now I regret it.
Because the man is too good at making me want him.
Ivan
She’s not the love doctor, I am.
I like to conquer things that interest me. Mainly women I’m told I can’t have.
The more difficult the challenge, the sweeter and more desirable.
Like her.
The goddess…
Dr. Jada Dane with her lush full curves in all the right places and that dark brown skin I want to kiss all night.
I’ve already decided I want to make her mine, she just doesn’t know it yet.
And, I’m not talking about one night.
She’s a girl I’d like to keep.
Get ready for one red-hot romantic ride with The Love Doctors
The Love Doctors
The Love Doctors
USA Today Bestselling Author
Khardine Gray
writing
as
Bella Fontaine
Chapter 1
Jada
“So, time for the question we’ve all been waiting to ask,” Mikey announced, adjusting his long-sleeved T-shirt then rolling it up his thick forearms.
He smiled at me like the audience could see his smile through the radio. I smiled too and brought my hands together to stop them from shaking.
I’d been waiting for this question since the show started. We’d been on air for an hour now, swapping between listening to the top 100 songs on Billboard and asking me questions he’d prepared and from the public.
This one was the kind I’d assumed he’d saved for the last round of questions.
His smile widened, and his eyes twinkled.
“Ask away. I think I know what you’re going to ask me?” I smiled and gave the ends of my hair an exaggerated flick.
“Well, Miss Jada, you’re the queen of our hearts. I don’t doubt that you already know what’s on my mind.” He nodded.
“I take that as a compliment.” I chuckled.
I loved all this attention. It was one thing to self-proclaim to be The Queen—which I definitely did—quite another to have people actually call you that.
Calling myself that was more for gratification. Having people call me that felt like a real honor. It was like I’d finally done something worthwhile for the community at large. I was damn proud of myself for it, and knew I’d earned my stripes.
“You should. My question is one I’m sure you’ve been asked many times, but we all want to hear it for ourselves from your gorgeous lips on the Good Morning Show.” He reached for his pencil that was sitting next to his notebook, the way he had a couple of times in the last hour, and mindlessly rolled it over the smooth surface of the table. “What inspired you to do all this? What inspired you to inspire us?”
There it was, the question I’d been waiting for. And, just like every time somebody asked me that, I’d lie about the answer.
I’d lie and feel guilty for the lie, but it was necessary, and in the back of my mind that good old protective mechanism was still there. It was still there keeping my secrets in the past. Keeping the worst thing that had happened to me hidden away in a place where only I could find it. No one would ever know what I went through. Just me.
As a well-educated psychotherapist, I should know better than to do something like that. I should have known better than to put my mind, body, and soul through that, and every time I gave this answer, I was reinforcing the damage.
Just like always, I gave my trademark smile and that sassy one-shoulder shrug that oozed my sex appeal. The people listening in couldn’t see me, but those tuned in would know my trademark mannerisms.
“I love that question, Mikey Mars. It’s
my favorite because I get to share with y’all why I do what I do.” I smiled proudly. “My book and my methods were inspired from all of you. All the people I’ve worked with in my counselling sessions, all the things I constantly see around me. The letters that pour in to me online and in person at the magazine. The answer is always going to be ‘All of you.’ I understand love, and I’ve simply used my skills and abilities of knowing how the human mind works and how the heart works to help all of you.”
God, I sounded like I was in a pageant, or like I’d just won an Oscar or something.
I always thought those pageant speeches especially were fake as hell. Oscars, not so much because the actors and actresses and the crew for whatever film that’d won the award had worked damn hard. A pageant, no.
I did feel phony as hell though, and it was because all of that, all of what I’d said, was completely wrong. It was a bold-faced lie I hoped no one would ever call me out on.
The thing was, if anyone truly read my book and looked into my techniques, they’d be able to tell that my answer for inspiration was a lie. If they could get past the revolutionary, shocking relationship suggestions I’d made in my New York Times Bestselling novel Go with the Flow, they’d know I was a woman who’d been hurt deeply.
They’d know that I, Dr. Jada Dane, wasn’t the diva, goddess I portrayed to the world. That I’d based the book and my whole methods on heartbreak, my own heartbreak.
Not love.
“That’s really beautiful, Jada.” Mikey nodded. He’d stopped rolling the pen and gave me a look of admiration and respect. A look I felt undeserving of for about two seconds, then I pushed the worries of the past out of my mind.
Same as I always did.
“Thank you. It’s the truth. I love working with people and helping in whatever way I can in one of the areas of life that has mystified humans from the dawn of time. Love, relationships, finding that special someone and knowing you’re with the right person. Those are all so important.”
Behind the screens where the sound engineers were stationed, I saw my very best friend in all the universe, Olivia Hawthorne, nodding her approval.
She looked like a million bucks with her hair parted in the center and the ends bone straight. Her dark brown skin looked striking in the fuchsia top I gave her for her birthday last week.
We were dressed similar today. She had the top that color, and my skirt mirrored it.
She’d always been there for me right from the start. We met when we were five, and meeting her was the best thing that had happened to me so far in my life.
I might have droned on and on at her about how boring she could be before she got married to Sam, her sweetheart, but honestly, I knew if I’d taken a leaf from her book and played it safe, I probably could have avoided some of the mistakes of the past myself.
“Those really are important,” Mikey stated, snapping my attention back to him.
“They are. I’ve found that people spend ninety percent of their lives worrying about their spouses or partners. That is a lot of time. If you’re happy in your relationship, or God, at least comfortable, then that frees up so much more time to focus on other things you could be doing.”
“Hear, hear, I agree.”
My career and publicity took off four years ago when I wrote Go with the Flow. It was a book about relationships that sold over a million copies when it released, and I continued to sell close to that amount each year since.
It was a culmination of my three simple rules of love:
Do not date scrubs- they have no money, know your worth and be picky, and lastly, my personal favorite: don’t be afraid to kick timewasters to the curb. If he’s into you you’ll know from the get go.
My methods in the book were expanded into ten principles I felt were important and key to empower women all over the world. They were:
Vet your potential partner like you would if they were applying for a job in your company.
Never, ever take risks with your heart.
Never take a chance on someone you aren’t sure of from the get go.
Beware of scrubs. Say no to them, they will drain you out.
Never give someone a second chance to hurt you.
Most men are dogs, be the master of him.
Keep an open mind to what you want and not what people tell you, you should have.
Don’t believe in fairytale shit. There’s no such thing as love at first sight or love conquers all. You get what you choose so chose right.
Beware of liars, cheats, frauds. The same way a leopard will never change its spots they will never change.
Remember to love yourself first. If you can’t, don’t expect others to love you.
That was it. My golden nuggets I passed on. Nuggets that would be my legacy.
The book had chapters for each principle where I elaborated on my theories and
gave guidance.
The last time people went that crazy over a relationship advice book was when John Gray released Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.
I hadn’t seen anything hit the shelves in that genre that hard since. My book hit, and it hit big too. Since then not only did I set up my own highly successful practice where I’d saved countless marriages and worked with a shitload of celebs, but I also worked as an advice columnist for the weekly magazine New Woman. I had my own section in the magazine, and I had an online space too for the subscribers who preferred reading and corresponding online.
I had two things to look forward to this year. Both were the reasons for my guest appearance on this show.
The first was my new upcoming book, and next was the thing I was most excited about.
It was getting the chance to host the reality show The Love Doctor. It was a combo of a reality and talk show, where people looking for love would go on the show and get matched up. They’d get two months of counselling, and viewers would watch the couple blossom or not. There was a massive nationwide competition for the new host who would get the opportunity to host the show for the next five years.
Right now, I was in the lead, big time, for the trial show, where there would be a showdown to pick the winner. There were four notable celeb psychologists. And I was in the lead by over a thousand votes from the public.
It was safe to say I had this in the bag.
“Two more questions, Dr. Dane. Then I’ll hand you over to the public for the last two listeners,” Mikey boomed in a vibrant voice.
With that inspiration question out of the way, I relaxed. There was nothing that could throw me off-kilter now. The nerves were gone and the tension off my back.
Deep down I thought I geared up for that inspiration question because I worried about the day when I wouldn’t be able to give the answer properly and someone would do or say something to damage me. It was one of those questions that had to be answered properly, and sometimes the way I answered had to be tailored to the situation.
I just didn’t want the day to come when something happened to throw me off this path I’d worked so hard to be on, and for so long.
“Fire away, Mikey Mars,” I answered.
“This new book of yours, please tell us how different it will be from the last?” His eyes sparkled. “What more could you possibly tell us?”
I knew that would be the question on everybody’s minds too because the last book was so revolutionary. This new book was one I could say was based off my experiences with my clients.
“Mikey, this new book will probably skyrocket and take off in a massive way. I have hopes that’ll be bigger than the last for the simple fact that it focuses on the start of a relationship. The meet-cute, as we call it in the romance world. You get that part right, the rest is in the bag. Seriously, and I’m going to show you all how to do that. Whereas Go with the Flow was about learning how to understand and communicate in a relationship, From the Get-Go purely focuses on meeting new people.”
I knew hands down that it was going to be a hit amongst everyone, t
he young and the old.
“Fantastic. That leads me to the last question, then. We already call you The Love Doctor, so you already have my vote for the TV show. The votes for you are crazy and well deserving.” He nodded.
“Thank you so much. I’m honored to have Mikey Mars’ vote.”
He did that exaggerated thing he did that enhanced his jovial personality. “You hear that, ladies and gentlemen, The Love Doctor, Dr. Jada Dane, is honored to have my vote. I’m swept off my feet, Miss Jada.”
I laughed. “Glad to be of service today.”
“You have been. So, here’s my question. If you are successful in getting the position, what can we expect? There will be all sorts of couples in that show. People getting together, people falling apart. Do you have a plan?”
I decided I was going to be super sassy with this answer. “Well, Mikey, I can only Go with the Flow From the Get-Go.” Both my books.
I planned to use the techniques from both my books.
The second book would be out in six months’ time, but I’d be using techniques from it in the show in the buildup to the release date.
Currently, I was still working with my editor on a few parts and elements, but it was pretty much done.
Mikey laughed. “I love that, Dr. Dane. You are one seriously amazing goddess.”