Richard: Caveman Instinct --- Gypsy Curse Book 2 Read online

  Stalking a couple of steps to him, I grabbed his arm only to have him shake out of my hold. “What’s up, Toby? You’ve been acting funny since yesterday.”

  I blocked out the music and stared at Toby, his eyes darted around like he was searching. “Argh…let’s talk about it tomorrow. Enjoy your birthday, Bailey.”

  Something was up with Toby and I wanted to know now. My one-track mind kept going over how he had been acting since yesterday afternoon, and I knew something was up. Not only had he barely spoken to me, he hadn’t even touched me or tried to sleep in the same bed with me.

  “Toby, you know me. I’m not a patient person, so just tell me. I know something is up.”

  Toby shook his head and came to me grabbing my hand and dragging me back to our friends. “It’s nothing. Tomorrow, Bails.” He brought me to him for a hug and kissed my forehead, and I swear I heard, “You’re worth whatever he dishes out.” Toby held me like he didn’t want to let go. His embrace was tighter than it had ever been. I ignored the feeling that something still didn’t feel right and enjoyed being in his embrace and he acting normal again.

  This day couldn’t get any better than this moment.

  *****

  Richard

  Fuck this. I couldn’t wait and watch any longer. Bailey was eighteen today. I had missed so much, and I wasn’t going to miss another minute. If I waited any longer, I was going to break the kid’s hands. Storming from my corner that I’d been hiding in watching, I practically ripped Toby from Bailey and caught her before she lost her balance.

  Leaning down so my mouth was against her ear, I whispered, “Happy birthday, my little Raven haired beauty.” Taking a deep breath in of her apple and cinnamon fragrance, I turned my head so my lips brushed back and forth against her cheek. Her breath hitched, and I couldn’t help but smile when she didn’t move from my hold. “Did you miss me?” I palmed her arse and she gasped as she turned her head towards me.

  “What are you doing?” Her voice shook, and I could tell it wasn’t because she was scared.

  “Holding you.” I pulled her tighter against me and moved to a quieter corner of my club. “I waited to see you again until you were eighteen. Tell me you don’t want to see me. I want you to tell me what you want.”

  “Why would you care what I want?”

  “I will always care what you want. I want to give you everything.” Moving my hands up her body, I tilted her head up. “Look at me.” She cocked her head to the side. “I have birthday presents for you. I’m coming down tomorrow to give them to you.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “I told you, you’re mine. Look, give me a chance. Let me show you what we could be.”

  She wiggled and pushed me to get out of my embrace and shook her head. “No. I can’t. I’m with Toby. I… I shouldn’t be doing this. What am I doing?”

  I couldn’t let her go, and I wasn’t too proud not to beg. “Please.”

  “Why are you doing this to me?” She struggled and he felt his hope shatter as he let her go. His almost empty club, bar her friends, made it easy for her to get to her friends who welcomed her back to their dancing group as if he didn’t even exist.

  Agitated and feeling defeated for the first time ever, I left. I needed to go before my caveman instinct took over and I broke a promise and kidnapped Bailey again. The curse sucked.

  Chapter Three

  Bailey

  I didn’t want to get out of bed. Yesterday had been the best day ever. My world felt like it had grown in leaps and bounds. I went from having a mostly quiet and non-eventful life to drama. Toby was talking to me again and back to his old self, but I now knew Richard had warned him to stay away from me. Richard, who last night swept me away at his club and told me he wasn’t giving up, had just been waiting until I was eighteen. Old enough to decide who I want to see. I wasn’t sure how I felt about what he’d told me. I still wasn’t sure if I believed Richard. It was becoming harder not to believe, especially when he spoke to Toby, threatening and telling Toby I was his and letting my friends and me have one of his popular nightclubs all to ourselves for a night.

  Richard confused me. I didn’t know what I should do. Being with a Silverman was a dream. When I’d seen Zeck, Tyson, and Stephan at the firm, sure, I fantasized about being with them. They were every woman’s dream guy—tall, dark skinned, body and faces that would shame Gods, and they were all filthy rich. Not that I really cared about all that. What I did love to see was how Stephan was with his girlfriend and how Zeck’s parents, who were also Richards, were with each other or Stephan’s parents and any Silverman with a female. I wanted to have a man treat me like they treated the women they loved.

  I couldn’t have Richard though. I was giving Toby a chance, and I wasn’t just going to dump Toby because something better came along. Crap, I thought Richard was better. Where did that thought come from? I barely knew the man. Toby wasn’t bad. He treated me with respect and we had a great friendship. I knew he had stronger feelings for me, but I just never felt more than friendship. I didn’t feel a spark. My stomach didn’t get butterflies, and my body didn’t tingle—I got nothing like that with Toby.

  Feeling bad at my thoughts, I threw the covers off, eased out of bed, and padded to the bathroom to do my morning ritual. I needed to get up, get on with my day, and not stay in bed stuck in my thoughts and confusion.

  Once I’d finished in the bathroom, I headed out of my room and to the kitchen for my morning hot chocolate, toast, and fruit. Nobody else was up yet. I was an early riser and knew, with the late night we had last night, they wouldn’t be up for at least another hour or more.

  As I was putting my hot chocolate in the microwave, there was loud knocking on the front door. Not even bothering to turn the microwave on, I carefully walked to the front door and opened it. There before me stood Richard. Cocking my head to the side so I could see him better, he wore black leather shoes and a black expensive looking business suit. As my gaze travelled up, I stepped closer and saw he was freshly shaven. My brother wore suits, and I’d never found anyone in them attractive, but Richard looked so damn sexy. My stomach flipped at just the sight of him and my tongue felt tied.

  “Hi,” I breathed out in a whisper barely loud enough for even him to hear.

  The biggest, cheekiest grin spread over his face like he knew exactly what he was doing to my body. “Hello there, my little Raven. I’ve come to take you out for breakfast and give you your birthday gifts.”

  I glanced down at myself and groaned. I was wearing a white singlet top with frilly black boxers. I didn’t need to see to know my nipples were pointing right at my guest and leaving nothing to the imagination.

  “Oh, God.” I crossed my arms over my chest and he bloody chuckled. “Watch it.” I glared at him. “You need to be nice if you want me to get dressed and have breakfast with you.” I really shouldn’t even be thinking of having breakfast with Richard, but I knew I would regret it if I said no. I needed to know if the chemistry I felt was real or just wishful thinking.

  He chuckled some more. “I like you feisty. Go get dressed. I’ll wait for you.”

  Turning, I scurried back to my room grateful my friends knew not to leave anything on the floor for me to trip over. Going to the closet, I slid the doors to one side and stared at what I had to wear. I chose a light yellow dress with cream lace for the seams and a strap under my breasts. Slipping into white sandals, I went to my bathroom, quickly brushed my teeth, and then did my hair, putting it in a ponytail, finishing in the bathroom with putting lip-gloss on.

  Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in and slowly let it out before I left my room and went to Richard. He stood leaning against the door and straightened as I came to him. I was having a good day today. My eyes were cooperating and letting me focus. I had good days and bad ones. Today it seemed was one of my good ones.

  “You look beautiful.”

  I felt my skin heat at his comment. “Thank you,” I mumbled,
stopping before the door and grabbed my handbag off the hook and slung it over my shoulder. “I’m ready.”

  Richard hooked his arm through my arm, intertwining our fingers. I debated for a moment if I should ease away, but his touch felt good, warm, and safe. Which was strange considering the first time I met him, he kidnapped me. Richard shut the door and guided me towards the elevator.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “The little café just around the corner does the best breakfast. Do you eat a big breakfast with sausage, eggs and toast?”

  “I don’t eat red meat. I eat eggs, and toast is good.”

  We left the hotel, and Richard didn’t let go of me even when we were on the path.

  “How long have you not eaten red meat?”

  “I was never really fond of it. Ethan used to bribe me to eat it when I was younger. At about eight, he stopped. I think he figured he couldn’t keep forcing me. He took me to the doctors, and I got tablets to supplement my iron intake. I eat a bit of chicken, and I don’t mind fish, but any other meat, I won’t touch. I’m happy on vegetarian food.”

  We walked into a little cove where there was a café with chairs out in front with a view of the beach. We went over to a table overlooking the beach, and he pulled the chair out and guided me into it before going around to sit across from me. A waitress came straight to us greeting Richard and then me, handing us each a menu. My stomach sank as I gazed at the menu to see it was in too small of a font for me to see. Everything was too close together and it just looked like one long unrecognizable word after the other. Biting my lip, I took a calming breath in and tried not to feel embarrassed when I held the menu so close it almost touched my face. Giving up when a tear slid from my eye, I wiped it away quickly hoping Richard didn’t see. I wasn’t usually so embarrassed by my vision problem, but with Richard, I wanted him to see me as normal, not some pathetic girl who needed help with everything.

  I didn’t have any luck. As soon as I wiped my face, I heard his chair scrape and then he was next to me. He took the menu from me and wiped my tears.

  “Don’t cry. I’m sorry I didn’t even think.” He knelt before me. “All you have to do is tell me you can’t see the menu and I will help you.” He kissed each cheek before brushing his lips against mine. Tingles shot straight through me, and I froze at the feeling. Richard sighed and leaned back before he went back to his seat.

  I was such an idiot. Not only was I out with a man I barely knew, who wasn’t my boyfriend, but I was upset over something that was easily solved. Argh, I didn’t deserve any of this. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here with you. I have a boyfriend. I don’t know you. I…” I stood knowing I had to leave.

  “Please sit. I shouldn’t have kissed you. Be here as a friend. Please, I want to get to know you, even if all I get is to be your friend.”

  I couldn’t resist the plea in his voice and sat back down. “Friends.” I could have friends. For some reason, one I wasn’t ready to look into I felt the need to get to know Richard. I needed to be close to him even if we were only friends.

  “Friends.” I gazed across at him and damn if I didn’t see the biggest smirk on his face. His dimple was deep, and I couldn’t help but melt. He really was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. I knew this friendship would be hard.

  *****

  Richard

  I felt like an idiot. I’d taken her to breakfast and forgotten about her vision problem. Her tears had my chest aching and feeling like an inconsiderate douche. I’d read her the food options, but I could tell she hated that I had to do that for her. From what little time I’d spent with Bailey, I could tell she didn’t like relying on people and endeavoured to be as independent as possible.

  We now sat in my silver Land Cruiser on our way to one of her birthday presents. She’d spent the first ten minutes of the ride on the phone to her friends telling them where she was and who she was with so they didn’t worry. Bailey asked me a rough time of when we’d be back, and I told her it took about forty-five minutes to get to where we needed to be and then after that, I wasn’t sure. It all depended on if she liked her present.

  Bailey finished on the phone and stared out the window. “You do know I don’t need or expect a present from you.”

  I expected she’d tell me this, and I knew I didn’t need to get her anything, but I wanted to. Yesterday had sucked not being able to spend it with her. “I know. I wanted to get you something, though. I wish I could have spent yesterday with you.”

  “I barely know you.” She sighed. “I really shouldn’t be in the car with you now. I really shouldn’t let you get me anything.”

  “Yes, you should. Friends get each other gifts.”

  She groaned, “It’s pointless me arguing with you, isn’t it?”

  Shooting a grin her way I nodded. “Yep. So don’t even try.”

  She was quiet for a while and then sighed loudly. “So, are you going to tell me anything about this present? Why we need to drive this far out of the city?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  Concentrating on the road, I tried not to glance at her when I felt her gaze on me. “I don’t like surprises. I don’t know you well enough to know that the surprise will be good. I really shouldn’t be in the car with you. If I'm really honest, I shouldn’t have even gone to breakfast with you. I have a boyfriend.” She moaned, and I watched her out the corner of my eye as she scrubbed her face. “There is just something about you, Richard. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  I hated that she had a ‘boyfriend’ who thought he had a chance with her. He wasn’t the one for her. When she gets to know me, she will stop seeing the boy. Darting my gaze off the road I saw her staring at me as she bit her bottom lip. Damn, my cock jumped in my pants at the sight of her full lips and her nervous action. “We’re friends, so you can be in the car with me. Friends get each other birthday gifts. My gifts just happen to be on a farm.”

  As soon as I said farm, she squeaked, “A farm. Oh my God. What on earth did you get me for my birthday that comes from a farm? A farm? Like with horses, pigs, sheep and cows?”

  The excitement in her voice had me chuckling, and I felt the grin spread over my face. “I don’t know if this farm has all those things, but I assume it does.”

  “Argh, cryptic much? Now that just has me more frustrated.” She blows a raspberry my way and I laugh.

  “Do you want a clue?”

  I didn’t need to see her to know she practically bounced off the seat. “Yes. I need a clue.” The need when she spoke was dramatically drawn out.

  “This is something your brother said you’ve always wanted.” There was no way I was going to make this easy.

  “Hey, that is so not a friggin clue.” I shrugged and she blew another raspberry my way. “Give me another clue cos that one sucked. There are quite a few things I always wanted that my brother never got me—like a driver. I hate busses, but that’s not something on a farm. Oh, I know, I wanted a horse, but that soon disappeared when I got a chance to ride one. The riding didn’t agree with my vision. Ha, I have it, did you get me one of those little pigs. That’d be pretty cool. I don’t know where I’d put him, though. Ethan and I live in an apartment. Maybe when I move next year, I could rent a house.”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t get you a little pig.”

  “Um, okay. Well. Can I have another hint?”

  “Nope, no more hints. You’ll just have to wait. We have a good twenty minutes or so until we get there. Why don’t we get to know each other more?”

  “Sure.” I glanced over at her as she sank down on the seat. “That’s probably good if we’re going to be friends. What do you want to know?”

  “Oh, we will be more than friends, but for now, just friends will do.” Smirking, I winked. “How about you tell me what you’re going to study at University.”

  “Accounting.” She didn’t say anything else, and I shot a quick look to see her staring blankly ahead.

&
nbsp; “Why accounting?”

  She shrugged. “I’m good with numbers and it’s the family business. Why not?”

  Bailey didn’t sound excited and her reply sounded practiced like she’d been asked before, and that was her standard answer. “Why not, indeed.” Neither of us said anything for a while, and I debated if I should just let it go or try and find out what had happened. When another five minutes went by, I groaned and smacked the steering wheel. I couldn’t let it go.

  “If you didn’t have the family business what would you do?”

  “I love kids, but… nothing… doesn’t matter because we do have the business.”

  There was something there. I knew it. I tried a different tactic. “So you said you know my brothers… how?”

  “Andrew was a year below me in school, and Mason was a year above me. I heard he goes to Griffith University. I had met Stephan and his fiancée last year before they moved here for Uni. I know they’re at Griffith University, too. I think Griffith is going to be a very popular university next year now word is out it’s filling with Silverman.” She giggled and it turned into a sigh. “Zeck,” she said in a breathless voice.

  What the fuck was my woman saying my brother’s name like that for? That fucker was dead. Growling as I darted a look over to see Bailey with a friggin dreamy face, I swore right then I was kicking my brother’s arse.

  “Zeck comes into the firm a lot. He and Ethan are friends. He’s so nice,” she moaned.

  “He better not be fucking nice to you. I’ll kill that fucker.” I death gripped the steering wheel wishing it was my hands around Zeck’s neck.

  Bailey giggled like I was joking. I wasn’t. I was going to go see my dear brother this afternoon, and we were going to have a talk about not being anywhere near my woman.

  “He’s really good with computers, and he helps us all the time. His company deals with all our technology. He doesn’t treat me like an extra problem, and he’s never made any complaint when he’s had to change anything so I can use it.” She sighed dreamily again, and even though I wanted to rip my brother’s head off, I was grateful for what he’d done for Bailey. “I’ve met your parents, too. They are with Ethan’s, uh, our firm.”