Richard: Caveman Instinct --- Gypsy Curse Book 2 (5 page)

“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.”

“So when do you work at the firm?”

“Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. In the holidays, I work five days a week. I earn my own money then and help Ethan out. When I get my degree, I want to take over from Ethan so he can have some time off. He needs a holiday. He needs to have fun. He needs to start living again,” she whispered.

If I hadn’t been concentrating, I wouldn’t have heard the last bit. “Why don’t you think he lives?

“Nope.” Her ‘p’ popped as she shook her head slightly. “He gave up everything for me. Ha, do you know he didn’t want to be an accountant? He was studying communications. He wanted to be a director or producer. He was pretty good too, from what I remember. I was only six so I don’t remember much, but I’ve seen the film he made, and I remember my parents bragging about him getting an internship at Movie World and that he never got anything lower than a credit.” Bailey became quiet and I waited, unsure if I should say anything or wait to see if she said anything else. “He gave that all up for me. It’s a hard business to break into, and the pay wouldn’t have been good until he moved way up.” I watched as her eyes closed. “I know he had a girlfriend, and a bunch of things lined up, but our parents died and he dropped everything, and I became his focus.” Her eyes opened and I wished I wasn’t driving so I could hold her.

Reaching over, I squeezed her leg. “I bet he wouldn’t change anything he’s done for you. I know he loves you and would bring you the stars and moon if he could.” I knew right then I’d do the same.

“I know. He is the best brother in the world. I couldn’t even wish for a better one. That’s why I will get my accounting degree and take over, and in my spare time, I’ll get my business degree. When I’m finished, he can go live his life. He can have the life he deserves.” He glanced over quickly to see her straighten. “I like that our firm is family owned. I enjoy numbers so I can do it.”

Holy crap, my heart broke at the thought of all she was willing to sacrifice and all her brother already had. Bailey was amazing. She wasn’t like many teenagers, who thought solely of themselves or what they weren’t getting. Not once had she mentioned how much harder it was for her to do things or what it would mean to spend that much time in front of a computer with her eyes. The only time she’d even mentioned her vision problem was at breakfast, and even then, she didn’t say anything but got upset and embarrassed. I couldn’t be prouder to be blessed with this woman as my soul mate.

“Sounds like you have your future planned. So you’re going to Griffith University. What are you going to do for accommodation, or are you going to train it from Brisbane each day?”

“At the start of next year, Ethan and I are going to start looking at apartments. Jessica will stay with me, too.”

We were getting close to our destination. It was all back country roads now.

“You don’t want a house?” I was buying a house for us—she just didn’t know it yet. I had my realtor looking now for properties. I hoped by the time university started, Bailey would be with me. The next couple of days I was going to get Bailey to help me find the right house.

“A house would be nice, but it would cost a lot more. I already cost Ethan a lot of money by choosing to live down here instead of training it every day from Brisbane. But enough about me, let’s talk about you. You told me at lunch Mason started a gym and I know Zeck has his own business, what about you? I know you own nightclubs. Is that all you have, the two clubs here on the Gold Coast?”

I had a bunch of other businesses, like owning a bunch of rental houses, and even a couple of shops that I leased out. She hadn’t asked about those, though, and I didn’t want to brag. “I own six nightclubs. Two here on the Gold Coast, one in Brisbane, one in Sydney, and two in Melbourne.”

“Wow, how do you manage them all?”

“I have a close knit team. The Sydney and Melbourne ones are run by two people. The ones here on the Gold Coast and Brisbane are having big problems at the moment so I’m helping manage these. I stay close to these as they are close to my family. I do visit the others. Sydney isn’t too far from where Stephan lives, or I should say lived. He, his fiancée and her brother are moving here to the Gold Coast. I’m sure Aunty Evelin and Uncle Lucas will follow. We Silvermans are all a pretty close knit family.”

“From what little I know, I had gathered that. I noticed once we got Zeck’s Business at the firm, soon after, the rest of the Silvermans followed.”

“That sounds about right. We share our success, and if we find something we like—your firm—we tell each other. It works well for us, well, most of the time.” Sometimes it did backfire, like with Jade, Stephan’s fiancée testifying and the problems it was causing with the bikers. The Silverman name was a blessing and a curse.

*****

Bailey

Richard had stopped before we turned down a gravel road. He reached into his glove box and got out a black silk tie. “I want to keep this a surprise. We are almost there. Let me put this on please, and I’ll take it off when I’m ready.”

I didn’t lean towards him. I wasn’t sure I liked even the idea of being blindfolded. I was already vision impaired.

“Please, trust me.” I studied his face, focusing my gaze on every detail. His eyes were bright and positively begged me to trust him. His lips were pouting, which I didn’t think a guy could do, but damn, Richard did it well. His hands came up in a begging motion and I was a goner.

“Argh, fine, but if you misplace the trust I’m giving you now, I won’t ever give you a second chance.”

He chuckled and leaned forward wrapping the tie over my eyes. “I promise you’re going to love the surprise.” When he’d done it up, I couldn’t see a thing. For a moment, I freaked out searching for the door handle and an escape. Richard’s hand found mine and he intertwined them together. “Calm down. I promise you, you won’t have this on for long. Take deep breaths in and count to a hundred. We will be there in less than that.”

He let go of my hand, and moments later, I felt the car move over the gravel road. I started to count, took deep breaths in, and slowly let them out. Once I was at eighty-six, the car slowed to an almost stop, and by the time I was at ninety-eight, the car was stopped and the door on my side opened. The tie stayed on, but Richards smell surrounded me as he lifted me out of the car and gently put me down.

“Mr. Silverman, you’re early,” a woman’s voice said. “Your security arrived only minutes ago, but we received the email of what needed to be done. Welcome. This must be Bailey.”

I nodded having no idea who I was nodding to, but said, “Hi.” I could hear barking in the distance, and I could smell Richard close.

“Come right this way. We have everything set up. Happy birthday, Bailey.” 

Richard started guiding me carefully.

“Thank you. It was yesterday, but thanks.” I almost tripped and without missing a beat, Richard swooped me up and kept going.

The barking became louder and louder the further we went. My heart beat faster as I started to get a feeling of what was going on. Little yips and barks were so close that I knew what was happening. Richard gently placed me down.

“Sit down, my little Raven.” I didn’t even hesitate. I eased down on what felt like a blanket.

A moment later, I felt Richard undoing the tie from around me eyes as he slipped it off. Blinking to help bring the focus back, I gazed down as brown, gold, and cream furry bodies started climbing over me. I glanced at the side and saw the outline of Richard. I turned back around and stared down at what I knew were puppies. Their fur was super soft almost like hair. One started licking me and I laughed. The little bodies came more into view and I gasped, darting my gaze to where I knew Richard was.

“They’re Labradoodles?” These were my favourite dogs. They don’t shed and they are known as highly intelligent dogs.

“Yeah, and you can choose whichever one you want.”

“Oh, my God,” I screamed.

The woman, who I could now see was middle aged with short brown hair knelt before me. “You’re very lucky Richard is so persuasive. These two are my only litters so far this year. I want my dogs to enjoy life and not just be breeders. My bitches only have a litter every three years. The litters before you I had most of them sold, but Richard got in contact with half of them and made some an offer they couldn’t refuse, but,” she laughed, “it looks as though you’ve chosen one of the ones I hadn’t sold yet. 

“Oh, that’s good. I wouldn’t want to choose one that someone else wanted. No matter what Richard has done. Please take away the ones that are sold. I’ll happily choose from who are left.” The puppy I held licked me again. “I’ve chosen this guy.” Some of the puppies barked, I laughed and cuddled my puppy that wouldn’t stop licking me. “You’re coming home with me.” His little tongue slipped out and licked my face. Giggling, I hugged tighter the brown fluffy little puppy.

“I think she’s chosen or should I say he chose her,” the woman said away from me. I assumed she was talking to Richard. I didn’t even bother looking up at the woman. I was currently in heaven, sitting on a blanket surrounded by playful puppies.

Over half the furry little puppies were taken away, and I was left with four including the one I had chosen. “So I guess this is why you were asking if I was going to get an apartment or a house?”

“Oh, you’ll have a house. I was checking if you cared which you had or if it was just a money issue.”

A golden coloured puppy tried crawling up me to get a hug, too. It was as if it didn’t want to be left out. Scooping it up, I held my brown puppy and now the gold. “Looks like I’ll be getting a job or training it every day to Brisbane so I can work a lot.” Bringing my brown little fluff ball up, I kissed its head. “You’re so worth it.” The gold puppy yipped as if it were telling me it didn’t want to be left out. Bringing it up closer, I snuggled the gold puppy. “Sorry, buddy, but you got in late. I’ve already chosen my little guy, er, I think he’s a guy.”

Richard’s lips touched my forehead. “Yep, he’s a boy, Bailey.”

Tilting my head, I smiled at Richard. He didn’t call me Bailey often. I liked it, but his little nickname for me was growing on me, and it sounded strange when he said my name.

“Thank you for this. This is an awesome birthday present. I can’t believe you got Ethan to say yes. I’ve been begging for a puppy since I moved in with him twelve years ago.” The puppies were so cute, and the one I’d chosen was adorable with dark brown fur and warm chocolate eyes. I had no idea what I was going to name him, though.

“Ethan agreed because the dog wouldn’t be living with him, and I promoted to help you take care of him.”

“Richard, I can’t have you do that. You’ve already done so much. I’m sure I can do what needs to be done. I have money saved.”

Richard inched closer until he wrapped his arm around me bringing me up against him. I knew I should ease away from him because what I was doing was wrong. I had a boyfriend, but the more time I spent with Richard, the more I was drawn to him.

The pads of his fingers brushed my cheek as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I want to do this, little Raven. I would do anything to see the smile that graces your face right now. It’s now my favourite thing to see.”

Oh, wow, Richard was such a sweetheart and damn if I didn’t just want to throw myself at him for that. Clearing my throat, I stared up into his blue eyes. “You’re making this really hard.” Turning away from him, I let my puppy down and the woman picked him up.

“I’m getting him a collar, and I’ll start his paperwork. Do you know what you’re going to call him?” 

“Bear. He’s brown, cute, and cuddly just like a teddy bear.”

“Great, I think that suits him. I’ll start sorting Bear’s paperwork out, and you can stay here and keep playing with the other three if you like?”

I nodded. “I’d love to. Thank you.” I turned to Richard. “This is all too much. I barely know you and you’re buying me a puppy. I can’t let you pay for the puppy. I’ll buy him as a gift to myself.” Smiling at Richard, I really wanted to hug him but knew I shouldn’t because if I did, I might not be able to stop myself from clinging to him and telling him I wanted more. I was such a bad person. I shouldn’t be here with Richard. I had a boyfriend. I shouldn’t feel this comfortable with someone I didn’t know.