Let’s Talk Love: The Love Vixen Series Read online

  Jodi gave her the side eye as she returned to her seat behind her computer. “I may know of someone.”

  Of course she did. Mina never doubted it. Jodi’s hobby was bringing home strays. The four- and two-legged kind.

  “Who is it?” Mina asked as she wandered over to Jodi’s side of the office and sat in a chair beside Jodi’s desk.

  “Her name is Laurel and I see her every morning on my way to the coffee shop. She needs a job, Mina. She has four children and her husband only shows up long enough to knock her up and then he leaves again.”

  Mina crossed her arms. On the surface that sounded horrific, but she’d learned to delve deeper with her friend. “Where does he go?”

  Jodi shrugged and flipped her braids behind her. “I don’t know. He just leaves.”

  Mina wanted to roll her eyes because she had an idea what was coming. “And how old are her kids?”

  Jodi shrugged again. “Little, I guess. But maybe they are school age because they’re never with her.”

  “And how much money have you given her?” Her friend had a heart of gold and was much too naive.

  “Maybe a couple…” Jodi muttered the rest of her words.

  Mina’s ears perked up. “Excuse me? I didn’t catch that. A couple of what? Dollars?”

  Jodi shook her head, but wouldn’t meet Mina’s eyes. That was a sure red flag on the play. “No, hundreds, over the course of a few weeks,” Jodi quickly added, like that made a difference.

  Leaning back, Mina crossed her arms. “And exactly how much is a couple?”

  “Two…or five,” Jodi ducked her head and muttered.

  Mina sat up, her eyes widening. “Jodi, you gave five hundred dollars to a complete stranger?”

  Her lips thinned. “She’s not a stranger. I told you I see her every morning on the corner. We just got to talking and she’s very nice and remember I said she has all those children to take care of?”

  Mina slumped back in the chair and covered her face. “Oh, my God. Please don’t tell me you’ve been paying a prostitute. I can see the headlines now—The Love Vixen’s Personal Assistant Arrested for Solicitation.” Mina shivered just thinking about the scandal that would cause.

  “No…” Jodi began to say and then it was like a lightbulb went off and her cheery disposition evaporated. Her mouth dropped open, but nothing came out.

  “What?” Mina had a feeling she wasn’t going to like where Jodi was going to lead her.

  “Well, I thought she just couldn’t afford clothes. But, what you said, if she is a…one of those ladies, that would explain why she never has many clothes on and what she does have on looks like she’s outgrown them.”

  Mina laughed and got up and hugged her bestie. “I love you, Jodi. Please don’t ever change. But stop giving money to people on the streets. If you feel the need to give, find a church or a shelter. Your money will be much better used and appreciated.”

  “Damn,” Jodi grumbled.

  “What is it this time?” Mina asked as she took her seat at her own desk.

  Jodi frowned. “That’s my favorite coffee shop and now I’ll have to find another one. I can never go there again.”

  Mina chuckled; that was so a Jodi response. “Or you could just tell her the well has dried up,” she suggested. The world would be so much better if people would just be honest with each other. Day to day, she saw the results of dishonesty and helped her readers find their true path.

  Jodi slowly shook her head. “That’s you. I’ll just find a new place to get our coffee.”

  Mina gathered her brown hair behind her head and twisted it before using a pencil to tack it to her head. Then she got back to work.

  Chapter 2

  Dear Love Vixen,

  The firm my boyfriend works for has been super busy with a new client, which I can totally understand. He is very good at what he does. He gets important calls all the time, day and night. Sometimes he has to go in to fix something a co-worker did wrong. My sweetie is so dedicated, even if we’re already in bed, he’ll rush to the office. He’s so important to the success of the company, he has two phones!

  So why am I writing to you? My friends say he’s having an affair, but they don’t know him like I do. He would never cheat on me.

  What do you think, LV?

  Standing by My Man

  Dear Oblivious,

  I’m going to step back from this one and ask you to re-read your own letter. The answer you seek is within its words.

  PS. LISTEN TO YOUR FRIENDS!

  Good luck, hon.

  The <3 Vixen

  * * *

  “…and I told him if he couldn’t commit, then we were through. He said he wasn’t ready to get married, so I packed up my bags and left.”

  Mina leaned into the microphone and replied to her caller, “Then it’s better that you found out sooner rather than later.”

  “It was. It really was. He wasn’t my happily ever after, but I haven’t given up hope of finding love. It’s like you say, you have to love yourself before you can offer love to someone else. I’m working on that…”

  Mina checked the time. The podcast was almost over. She took a sip of her water and Diana, her caller, was still going strong. She didn’t like to rush anyone that took the time to call in and share their life with her listeners. Sometimes she needed to redirect callers to get them back on track, but mostly they just wanted someone to listen.

  “Well, it sounds like you are on your way to a healthy and happy relationship with yourself. Be your own best friend for a while and keep your heart open to future possibilities. That’s all the time we have for today. Thank you all for stopping by. You’ve been listening to Let’s Talk Love with The Love Vixen. So until we meet again next week, good luck, hon!”

  Mina kept her eyes on Justin in the control booth. When he gave her a thumbs up, she smiled and removed her headphones. He pushed a button on the mixer board and said, “Great show, Mina.”

  “Thanks, Justin.” Mina gathered her things and looked up when Jodi breezed in with her tablet in hand and a look of determination on her face. She must have seen the question in her eyes because Jodi shook her head and sighed. She’d been waiting to hear from Devin for a week. With the time difference and their work schedules, it was difficult to even coordinate a phone call. She missed her fiancé. Thank goodness he only had a month more of filming to go.

  “We have exactly forty-five minutes to get you dressed and to your segment on the Helen show. Dee is waiting for us. Come on, hurry up.”

  With another sigh, Mina stuffed her water bottle, notebook, and cup of pencils, pens, and highlighters in her oversize handbag and followed Jodi out of the recording studio to a storage closet. As soon as she opened the door, Dee snapped, “Hurry up, girl? Have a seat. Hair first.”

  Some days Mina thought her name was Hurry Up. She dropped her handbag where she stood and sat in the metal folding chair DeeVonn was using as his hair and makeup seat. “A storage closet?” she asked as her gaze ran over the shelves of toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, and the assortment of mops, brooms, and vacuums leaning against the corner wall.

  “It was all that was available,” Jodi replied as she pulled a pretty, frilly designer dress from a garment bag she’d hung on one of the shelves. “Can you strip while Dee does your hair?”

  “Sure.” It wasn’t like it was the first time she’d accomplished such a feat. Early on she’d learned how to totally transform in the back of a Ford Taurus. She shimmed her gray leggings under her ass without much movement and then Jodi pulled them off her legs. Her shirt was easy, just unbuttoning and then shrugging her shoulders until it dropped, leaving her sitting on a cold metal chair in her underwear.

  With her hair pinned and in place, Dee moved on to her makeup. “Close your eyes,” he instructed. He swiped a thick foundation over the skin on her face and neck which felt heavy and pore-clogging. He did her eyes next and finished with rosy cheeks blended to perfection.
A bit of bronzer to give her face highlights and dimension and make her appear to be glowing and then a pink lip to match the pink in her dress.

  Dee took a step back to inspect his work. He came back in to fuss a bit with her eye shadow and then tweaked a few of her blonde curls. “I wish I had time for a curling iron.”

  “It’s fine, Dee,” Jodi said and pushed him out of the way with the dress already threaded on her arms so all Mina had to do was bend over and insert herself in the sleeves and head hole, which she did without mussing her hair or makeup. Dee zipped her up the back and then opened the door.

  “Go. I’ll bring everything and meet you at the limousine out front,” Dee said as he threw things back into his gear bag.

  Mina and Jodi flew out the door and headed for the elevator. “Wait.” Mina stopped and looked down at her bare feet.

  “I’ve got them,” Jodi said and held up a pair of pink stilettos. “You can put them on in the elevator.”

  Mina nodded and once the elevator doors closed, Jodi was on her knees in front of her helping her into her shoes and buckling the narrow ankle straps. One strap pinched and Mina gasped and moaned just as the car stopped to let on a man and woman. The woman’s steps faltered when she got a look at what she thought was going on in the elevator. Her arm shot out, barring the man from entering. Taking a step back, she crossed her arms and said, “We’ll get the next one.”

  When the door closed, Jodi looked up at her, more than a little confused. “What…” she started to ask, but then the lightbulb went off and they both started laughing.

  They were still giggling as they entered the Universal lot. The limo let them out at the stage door where they were met by a producer who showed them to the green room. Mina only had time to visit the restroom and have Dee touch up her hair and makeup before she was being called to go on stage.

  She followed the line producer, who introduced herself as Faye, through a maze of hallways filled with equipment and boxes of who knew what. Faye came to a stop at a point Mina assumed was directly behind the stage. She tried to keep up with the instructions, but Faye was moving through them at the speed of light.

  “When you hear your name, wait for a count of five before walking onstage. Shake Helen’s hand and sit in the chair to her left. Don’t hug her. She has a bad back. There is a mug of water on the table beside you if you need a drink, but try to wait until a commercial break. You’ll do a three-minute interview segment, followed by a commercial. Then Helen will ask the audience for questions for The Love Vixen. Don’t worry, the questions have been vetted and approved by your office.”

  What? Questions? Mina didn’t remember approving a question-and-answer segment. She glanced behind her for Jodi and frowned. Jodi must have stayed in the green room. The only person with approval power was Jodi—why hadn’t she mentioned a Q&A? Mina dialed back in to Faye, who was still giving directions.

  “Then you’ll go back to the green room until you do a game segment with Helen near the end of the show.”

  “Game?” She knew nothing about that either. She knew how much Helen loved to play games, but she wasn’t thrilled with being hit in the face by a pie or dropped down a two-story trap door.

  “Yes. Don’t worry. It’s for a great cause,” Faye said with a wry smile.

  Mina’s mouth dropped open in shock just as she heard, “Please welcome the world famous Love Vixen!” Her intro music played loudly. The audience burst into applause.

  Faye smiled and stepped back her smile turning into a wicked grin just as the doors opened and Helen and the applauding audience was before her. Mina’s mouth snapped shut and she smiled with her teeth showing as she tried to remember her directions. Her feet wobbled just a bit in the ridiculous stilettos as she tried to put sauciness into her walk onstage and become The Love Vixen. She waved to the audience as she rounded the set chairs and then shook hands with Helen with all the confidence of a trending personality.

  Mina took time to make eye contact with the audience of smiling faces and gave a final wave of appreciation before she sat down. The music stopped and the applause faded.

  “What do I call you?” Helen asked.

  “Vixen is fine, or LV,” Mina replied as she smoothed down the skirt of her dress, making sure she wasn’t flashing the camera. She had a fear of coming on stage with her dress tucked in her panties from a hurried trip to the potty.

  “You’re a very busy woman. I see you everywhere. Billboards, television, I even saw your face on a city bus this week.”

  Mina smiled meekly. “Yes. It is rather overwhelming being me at times.” In actuality, seeing her Love Vixen face on billboards and busses made her cringe. She refused to let anyone do digital touchups on her face or body. Whether a magazine cover or a bus, it was important to portray her authentic Love Vixen self.

  “This is the year of The Love Vixen, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s probably going to be the decade of The Love Vixen,” Helen remarked.

  “You are too kind, Helen. Fame wasn’t something I set out to achieve. That was a side effect of my main goal. I only wanted to help women and men going through rough times.”

  “I would say you’ve achieved that goal. Here on the show, we even set aside every Wednesday afternoon to come together and listen to your podcast. There are some mixed-up people calling in for your guidance.”

  Mina’s back straightened. She didn’t like anyone making light of her followers’ issues. “I wouldn’t say mixed-up. The people that call in are usually working through a difficult time in their lives. I hope I’m able to give them some clarity and some hope for a happier future.”

  Helen leaned in closer and met her gaze. “What’s the craziest thing you’ve been asked?”

  She had no clue why that was one of her most asked questions. “While I’m not a licensed doctor, I do keep conversations with everyone that contacts me confidential unless they approve sharing their issues with my listeners or readers. Anyone who contacts The Love Vixen needs to be able to put their trust in me. So no, Helen, you won’t get any gossip from me.” Mina was careful to keep a smile on her face to ease sticking to her principles.

  “And that’s why everyone loves you. Well, everybody but one particular, shall I say, Boston Butt?”

  Mina flinched inwardly. “While I have not had the opportunity to speak to him personally, I do believe that he has underlying issues that may be influencing his reactions to not only me, but the entire subject of love. Perhaps he had a very unhealthy relationship and is simply looking for someone to blame.”

  “You think he’s been dumped one time too many?” Helen asked with her lips curling into a grin.

  “This is only speculation, but I wouldn’t dismiss that idea.” That was all Mina was going to give Helen on that subject. From there, she steered the conversation to more positive subjects like the pet rescue adoption fair on Saturday. Helen loved her pets. The question-and-answer segment was light and easy and, of course, verging on inappropriate. When the interview ended, Mina was pleased with the outcome.

  When the producer gave the all-clear call, Mina stood and shook Helen’s hand. “Thank you so much for the invitation, Helen.”

  “I knew you’d be a good guest. I wish I’d gotten you to spill more on your war with the Butt, but you played it professionally and respectfully. I’ll see you later in the show. Thanks for being such a good sport.”

  Mina watched Helen walk back on stage and a line producer showed her back to the green room, where she had time to grab a bottle of water. As soon as Jodi walked in, Mina asked, “What is this game segment?”

  Jodi’s brows pulled together in confusion. “What game segment?”

  “They said my people had approved a game segment and since you’re my people…” Mina let the question fade as she watched Jodi’s blank expression.

  Jodi shook her head. “I never approved a game segment. What do they want you to do?”

  “I have no idea. The producer just
said it was for a good cause.”

  How bad could it be?

  * * *

  As Mina sat on the platform six feet above a tank of water, her teeth chattered in fear, but her Vixen smile stayed in place. As soon as she’d stepped back on stage, her heart started racing when she’d realized what her “game” was going to be. The only good thing was Jaxon Momoa was the guest throwing balls at the target to dump her into a tank of water.

  Jaxon tossed the ball in the air and flexed his muscles. “Sorry about this, Vixen,” he called out with a devilishly handsome smile. Mina sighed. She had a perfectly respectable crush on him since his Throne Games days, which spun off Devin’s Game of Kings show. She’d never thought she’d get to meet him. Which she still hadn’t. Helen’s producer had rushed her into place on the sitting platform before Jaxon came on stage.

  He looked even better in person. His long hair wasn’t confined and flowed around his shoulders with a strand braided on the left side. He had on a black button-up shirt that she wished was a tank so she could have seen his arm muscles and his sculpted chest. She would have loved to find out if he was as ripped as television made him appear or had those defined muscles been from a talented makeup artist. She chose to believe the former.

  He threw the ball and Mina stiffened and sucked in a breath of air. Unpredictably, Jaxon missed the target on his first throw. The audience laughed and he said something witty and they laughed again. Everything was muffled to her inside the tank.

  The second ball hit with a loud pop and Mina screamed, sucking in a mouthful of water as she fell into the frigid water.

  Her hands went to the top of her head holding her hair in place as the strands floated up. As she surfaced, she heard the producer call a wrap and she realized her skirt was floating up around her waist. She took one hand away from her hair and worked to push the billowing folds of fabric down to hide her underwear from public consumption.