Authors: Marissa Monteilh
Dr. Feelgood
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2007 by Marissa Monteilh
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eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-6856-3
eISBN-10: 0-7582-6856-4
First trade paperback printing: January 2007
First mass market printing: March 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
This is dedicated to the one I love!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Hello again! I’ve wanted to give birth to a book called
Dr. Feelgood
for quite some time now, and here it is, resting in your wonderful little hands. I want to thank the “doctor” who had the
Dr. Feelgood
nameplate on his desk when I was very young. That name stayed in my innocent memory as one who made people feel good medically, but now that I’m older, the name has a new and pleasurable meaning. And feeling good ain’t bad!
As I did before and always will, I thank God for my gift, for my journey, for my health, my family, and my relationships.
My loving children—Adam, Ron, and Nicole, my son-in-law Darrien, my heart-stealing granddaughter Alexis, my devoted brother, Greg, my wise and wonderful Ma Bette, my special Kelvin, big-F Friends—Annette, Ollie, Charles, Tami, and Pamela.
My closest and beloved author buddies—Victoria Christopher Murray, Mary B. Morrison, and Carmen Green, author and the owner of Book-remarks.com Cydney Rax.
My girl Marjorie Coley Davis at KISS 104.1 radio in Atlanta, Angela Jenkins at KBMS radio, Cheryl Robinson with Just About Books (Harambee radio.com), Radiah at Urban-reviews.com, Shunda Leigh at Booking Matters Magazine, Carol Mackey at Black Expressions, Curledup.com, Romance incolor.com.
Cherished bookstores who allowed me to add them to my tour like Black Images (a VIP shout-out to Emma Rodgers), Black Bookworm, Nubian Books, B’s Books, Howard University Bookstore, Urban Knowledge, Sepia-Sand-Sable, Karibu, Medu Books, Horizon Books, Pyramid Books, Truth Books, Barnes & Noble Palmdale, Waldenbooks CNN Atlanta, Waldenbooks Cumberland Mall Atlanta, Bernard Henderson at Alexander’s in San Francisco, Bernardsbookshelf.com.
The 2006 Make Me Hot contest participants, each and every valued Make Me Hot contest sponsor, the Make Me Hot contest winner Pamela Bell-Melton.
My charming and wonderful agent Maureen Walters and her assistants Christina Morgan and Jenny Fitzsimmons.
My phenomenal Kensington family—Karen Thomas, Nicole Bruce, Latoya Smith, Walter Zacharias, Steven Zacharias, John Scognamiglio, Stacey Barney, Adeola Saul, and Lydia Stein.
Those devoted Myspace.com readers.
Invaluable book clubs—Special Thoughts, Ladies of Color Turning Pages, Turning Pages in Oakland, Sisters on the Reading Edge in Antioch, Chapters Book Club L.A., The North Carolina Bookfest, Angel Reid and the Imani Book Club Atlanta, and Moe.
Curtis Bunn with the National Book Club Conference, the North Carolina Black Book Festival, the Antelope Valley Writers, the African American Literacy Awards for the
Make Me Hot
nomination.
My pastor for saying, “If you can’t get something out of it, put something into it.”
And last but not least—my faithful and down-to-earth readers—for all you do, this book’s for you!
Always and in all ways,
Marissa Monteilh aka The Diva Writer
www.myspace.com/divawriter
D
r. Feelgood is getting his ass kicked but good,
curvy Salina Alonzo Woodard thought to herself with her emotions running high as she braced herself for the worst. The sexy doctor’s engraved metal nameplate hit the speckled Berber carpet like a rubber ball and bounced faceup upon the polished hardwood entryway floor of his eighth-floor medical office.
Dr. Feelgood
it read.
After many years of saving the lives of other people, tall, dark and handsome, Dr. Makkai Worthy, aka Dr. Feelgood, literally begged for his own life at the hands of a muscular white man whose beautiful Hispanic wife had just been caught cheating on him with the educated, gifted doctor.
Nationally known as attending cardiac surgeon at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Worthy had repaired many ailing hearts over the course of his illustrious career. And over the course of his thirty-seven-year life, he had broken many as well. He was a heartbreaker extraordinaire. Only, repairing those hearts was not on his list of daily duties
on this sunny morning, but perhaps, from the intensity of the firm, strangling hold around his neck, it should have been.
“Please, honey, stop it. Please, let him go.” Salina Woodard begged and pleaded with her jilted husband to release his gargantuan grip from the neck of her handsome lover. She stood nervously behind her husband, bracing herself upon her tiptoes, peering over his shoulder while pressing her golden acrylic nails into his clothing, pulling toward the back of his flexed upper arms.
With his medium brown complexion now suddenly reddish cinnamon, Dr. Worthy gagged and choked as he forced himself to speak with bugged eyes. “You have the wrong man. I don’t even know her,” he retched while Salina’s husband continued to squeeze, pressing his manly thumbs into the wealthy doctor’s Adam’s apple.
“Don’t even know me?” Salina replied with frantic coated words. Surely her ears deceived her.
She relaxed her stance, releasing her hold on her madman of a spouse. She stood up straight, adjusting her white cotton blouse, smoothing it with her hands and then straightening out her crisp starched collar, securing her leather purse strap along her shoulder. She folded her arms across her chest. A sudden blanket of numbness visited her from head to toe. She held her head up high even though her thoughts sped up. She wanted the attack to end, but she was also insulted by Dr. Worthy’s blatant denial. In an instant, part of her wanted to cheer her husband on, hoping he could snap her man-on-the side’s neck with one jolt. But, the other part of her
took a quick trip down memory lane to the happy times she’d had with this heartbreaker of a man, Dr. Feelgood.
Normally, it was just about raw, bucket-naked nasty sex, but one day, one special evening just last summer, the couple held hands while walking along, checking out the shops in the popular Farmers’ Market. She and the brilliant doctor decided to sit at a tiny wrought-iron table at a little outdoor French café. He pulled out her chair with a chivalrous nature. She wiggled her ample hips into a comfortable spot and femininely lifted herself ever so gently as he scooted the chair toward the table after she sat. She felt like a regal queen, proud to be with her lover in public and happy to receive such undivided attention. A feeling she hadn’t had in her marriage in a long time.
They sipped on chilled chardonnay while feeding each other French bread dipped in warm olive oil. The night air was still and calm as he wiped the corner of her mouth with his long index finger, following up the gesture with the soft, sweet deliverance of a peck on the lips. She gazed at the good doctor as he sat looking ever so good with his jetblack, freshly tapered, faded haircut. She gave him an approving eye and smirked warmly, crossing her brown legs that were shown off so perfectly, extending from the hem of her sheer royal blue dress.
He took possession of her left hand that rested on her lap. “You’re very special to me, Salina,” he said.
“And you to me,” she replied, wearing a smile. For the first time, words of caring were exchanged while vertical, as opposed to horizontally.
They talked and laughed and flirted through dinner as though it were a first date. Then they leisurely strolled along the trendy Grove under the moonlit sky and shining stars, hand in hand together, as if she were just as single as he was.
But, the only person seeing stars now was Dr. Worthy. He flailed his hands about, trying to fend off his jealous attacker. He lay on his back upon his own oval mahogany desk in the middle of his office. Important papers flew onto the floor, as well as an array of pens, paper clips, and framed photos.
Salina snapped out of her moment of reflection, coming back to present time. Again urgency took over her adulterous mind.
“Help,” the attractive woman screeched as she anxiously glanced toward the door and then back. “Honey, stop,” she yelled, with her hands now pounding on her green-eyed monster of a husband’s wide back. At the same time, she heard the sound of a siren from the paramedic unit.
Within what seemed like two seconds, they burst into the office, and it took three strapping men to pry her scorned husband off of the prestigious doctor. Dr. Worthy squinted his dark brown eyes tightly and put his hand on his ravaged throat to chase away the raging pain and ease circulation. He leaned up with one arm as he stood from the desk and panted until he could steady his pace. And then, he propelled his fit body toward his attacker and sucker punched him dead in the face.