by Hazel Gower
Carl
Caveman Instinct – Volume 2.5
Hazel Gower
Contents
MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR
DEDICATION
Acknowledgements
Blurb
Chapter one
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter eight
Valentine short.
Easter Surprise
Baby Love
Chapter one
OTHER BOOKS BY HAZEL GOWER
CONTACT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT HAZEL GOWER
MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR
This book set in Australia. In Australia the legal age to drink, vote, get married and so on is eighteen. The characters speak Australian English, so if you see the word ‘arse’ instead of ‘ass’ it is because that’s how we say it in Australia where the book is set. If you find a word you haven’t heard before, look it up or message me I’d be happy to talk to you.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my book.
Hazel Gower
Copyright © Hazel Gower
Carl- Caveman Instinct 2.5, by Hazel Gower
Caveman Instinct – Volume 2.5
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author or publisher constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use the material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, are coincidental.
Edited by Diana Stager Thomas
Cover by Jess Buffett Graphic Designs
DEDICATION
To all my fans who love this series. Thank you for your emails and messages for more caveman.
Acknowledgements
A huge shout out to my editor Diana for working with me. Thank you for all your hard work and suggestions. You’ve helped this book shine.
To all the women in my Hazel’s Haven thanks for your support.
To Lisa, thanks for your input.
Lastly, but certainly not least, thanks to my family and Jess for always being my support system and listening to me bitch and moan when characters aren’t doing what I want them to. I love you.
Blurb
Carl
My family believes they’re gifted by gypsies to find their soulmate, but I always thought it was bullshit. I don’t think it’s a gift. I believe we’re cursed. I’m forty five and still haven’t found my mate, and my nephews use me as an example to prove my theory that we’re cursed. After watching my brothers and two of my nephews find their soulmates, I’ve given up hope. Now I’m known as the cranky reclusive uncle. I don’t care what my family thinks as long as they leave me in peace.
Not only am I from one of the most powerful family’s, the Silverman’s, I’m one of the best doctors in Australia. I devote my days to bettering my skills and don’t care how others see me. Everything changes though when I find out the curse is in fact real, and meet my soulmate Annabelle. There’s a problem though, she doesn’t seem very impressed by me.
Annabelle
My life changed in a moment when Carl Silverman, pompous know-it-all, kidnapped me from the hospital where I was visiting my mother. He’s convinced I—quiet, plain, little old librarian —am his soulmate. I feel a strange pull towards him and I can’t deny our attraction, but I don’t know if I’m ready for a relationship with someone like Carl.
Carl
Caveman Instinct – Volume 2.5
Hazel Gower
Chapter one
Carl
“Oh my. Who is that? He’s delicious.” I could feel eyes on me, but I didn’t even bother looking. I wasn’t interested.
“Shhhh, quiet. Don’t let him hear you. He’s an arsehole. He may look good enough to eat, but he’s poison. That fine specimen is the famous doctor Silverspoon.”
“No way.” The first voice now whispered. “He’s real? I thought the doctors just made him up to scare the interns.”
“No. He’s real, and he’s the biggest douche around.” The voices faded, but I didn’t care anyway.
They always talked about me and I didn’t give a flying fuck what any of them thought of me. The nasty gossip had been going on for years and I knew it would never change. They were all beneath me. I was a Silverman, but I was still the doctor they avoided. I was the doctor interns begged not to be put on rotation with. My nick name was Silverspoon, because they said the silver spoon is stuck up my arse. Ha, ha. I didn’t find it funny, but apparently all my work colleagues find it hilarious. There was even a running joke they played on new people telling them to call for Mr. Silverspoon, or told them it was my name and so when they introduced themselves they called me by that. When I was younger the name had hurt, but as I aged I realized I didn’t care what the ignorant idiots thought of me, what anyone thought of me. The only person I cared about was me. No one else was going to care for me if I didn’t. I was one of the best damn doctors in the hospital. Probably the state. So I ignored their jokes and snide comments.
Being the youngest of four and a late in life baby to my parents, I watched my much older brothers move out of home, fall in love, and have children. I always thought I would follow in their footsteps. It never happened. As the years went by, I never met any woman and that dream faded. I stopped believing in love, or what my family called the gift of the gypsies, a gift that helped every Silverman find his one true love.
When I first started my residency I was too busy to care that I hadn’t found anyone. When I finished my residency and choose to specialize in general, I started to worry that I hadn’t found my one, my soul mate. My older brothers had been married for years and all had children. I hadn’t even met anyone. So I started going out and dating, seeing if I could find the woman who was meant to be mine, hoping to feel something. I admit the closer I got to forty, the less I believed in the stupid gift and the more I came to see it as a curse.
At almost forty six, I thought the gypsy gift, or curse, was a made up story to help keep the Silverman men faithful to their women. I didn’t believe for one friggin’ second that my very young nephews had suddenly fallen under the curse. I called bullshit.
“Dr Silverman to consult in emergency.” Getting up out of the chair, I logged off the computer and made my way to emergency.
* * * *
Annabelle
“Mum, can you stop chatting up the nurses?”
My mother rolled her eyes as she lay in the hospital bed. “She was hot. Stop being such a Debbie downer.”
I closed my eyes and prayed for patience. My mother had been rushed to hospital only half an hour ago. I’d left work in a rush thanks to Principal Ranch telling me I had to stay until school finished. I had one class left when I received the phone call, but he wouldn’t get anyone to cover for me so I could leave and get to my mother even though I covered for teachers and other work mates all the time. I was a school librarian and I loved my job, but over the last couple of years I’d noticed more and more, that I was the teacher that did everyone f
avors, but I never got any in return. I always stayed back until well after school finished at three thirty, catching up on work.
I didn’t mind too much though. I mean, I had my dream job. Books were my world. From a young age I would escape in as many books as I could. The library was my safe place. I was conceived as the result of my mum and one of her friends having a one night stand of sorts. My mother wanted to make sure she was gay and, as she tells it, see what all the hype was about being with a man. The one night not only confirmed she was a lesbian, but it conceived me. Children were fine until a parent or older kids found out about my mother. Then the teasing began and it always escalated into bullying. So I ended up spending most of my childhood in the library hiding away.
“Do you think they called a hot doctor?” I opened my eyes and glared at my mother. Since the pain meds had kicked in she hadn’t shut up and had become very crude. “I haven’t had doctor pussy in years.”
I covered my ears, horrified at what my mother was saying so loudly in the emergency room with five other beds not far from hers. Letting my hands fall I leaned forward and hissed, “Stop it! People don’t want to hear that. My God, I don’t even want to hear that.”
My mother sighed as dramatically as you can from a hospital bed. “You need to get laid, daughter of mine.”
Groaning, I wished the floor would open and swallow me. At least the curtains were drawn around the bed giving us a tiny bit of privacy.
“You know. I bet you could call yourself a born again virgin. I think it’s like five years. I mean when was the last time you cleaned out down there honey?”
“Mum,” I growled, humiliated. I hoped the other patients were too sick to hear what my mother was saying. It had been a very long time, but I wasn’t telling my mum, especially not now. If I went off what my mother was saying, I was almost a virgin twice over at the ripe old age of thirty one. Argh! I was so pathetic.
Needing to get away from my mother for a moment before I either broke down or strangled her, I stood and stared at her lying in the bed. “I’m going to go check on how much longer we have to wait for a doctor and go grab myself something to eat and a coffee.” I needed to go for a walk too, clear my head before I came back in to my mum. By the looks of my mum, I needed to call Principal Ranch and ask if he could give me time off. I’d also give my best friend Brent a call and see if he could pop by my house and check on Sherlock, my German shepherd.
My mum winked at me. “Sure, go check out what they have to offer around here.” I knew she wasn’t talking about food, but I could also see that whatever meds she’d been given by the nurse had not only just stopped her feeling pain, but made her high as a kite.
Not bothering to answer mum, I smiled at her and backed out of the curtain drawn cubical.
* * * *
Mum had appendicitis. As soon as they’d confirmed this she was booked and taken to the operating room. After, a nurse came and told me my mother was in recovery, that the surgery had been fine, and they’d had no complications.
A heavy weight on my chest had been lifted and I walked to an exit needing fresh air. My mum drove me crazy, but I loved her and didn’t know what I would do without her. Whilst mum had been in surgery I’d rung work and explained the situation. Principal Ranch was an arsehole. He’d told me that it wasn’t in the school’s budget to find a replacement for me while I took a holiday. I’d explained my mother was in hospital, but for some reason he didn’t believe me. I should have argued that I really was looking after my mother. I should have told him that I was entitled to time off, but I didn’t. I apologized for calling him at home and that I would see him Tuesday morning. Argh, I was such a pushover. Thank God it was a long weekend, and I had Monday off to help mum.
The sun glistened on the horizon as I left the path to wander in the garden. Pulling my phone from my handbag, I dialed my best friend Brent. He had been my best friend since high school. We’d met in year seven in the library when Brent had gone in to get away from bullies, too.
He picked up on the second ring. “How’s your mum?”
“I’ve just come outside to tell you the surgery was a success. They took out her appendix and she’s in recovery. I want to stay here with her tonight, but I need someone to go check on and feed Sherlock.”
“Don’t you worry, love. I’ll look after Sherlock for as long as you need me to. When do you have to be back at work?”
My best friend was amazing. He was always around to help me whenever I needed him. “Thanks so much, Brent. I really appreciate it. Work has been a nightmare and I have to be back bright and early Tuesday. Lucky it’s a long weekend, huh?” A tingling raced up my spine and an odd feeling swept over me. Looking around, I searched for what could cause this strange feeling.
“Oh Bellie, You really need to speak to your union rep and…”
I stopped listening to Brent as my heart rate sped up and an awareness of someone watching me had me spinning around searching. I spotted him and my whole world froze. Holy shit. The man before me was breathtaking.
I muttered something to Brent about calling him later and hung up. I could barely move. I just stood there and stared. The guy was taller than me, which is something as I’m five-ten. I guessed he was close to six-five, maybe even six-six. He wasn’t a huge muscular build, but he was defined, with just enough muscle to make him perfect. It wasn’t just his body, in what looked like a very expensive suit, that held me captivated. It was his face: his high cheek bones, regal nose with its slight upturn, lips that weren’t big, but were definitely not small, his square chin. And the whole package rounded off with his little scuff of a beginning beard, making his GQ appearance complete.
The man before me was like a mirage in the desert. My stomach flip flopped and got hotter the longer I stared. I’d never in my life reacted to a man this way. What had this guy done to me? It was like I was put under a spell.
The man smiled and I swear I almost fainted. He had dimples. Panty melting dimples that turned his manly face into the cutest, cheeky look. It was so sexy. The smile turned predatory and I suddenly felt like a gazelle stuck in a lion’s gaze. Frozen. And not with fear. I gazed at him and his brown eyes, so dark that they could pass as black, captured mine. In that moment I knew my world was about to change.
* * * *
Carl
Exhausted and tired from a double shift, I’d made my way to the employee car park on auto pilot. I’d taken this trip a million times. I could do it in my sleep. An unsettled feeling consumed me all afternoon. I told myself it had to do with a call from my sister-in-law. Probably telling me one of their sons had found his soul mate, his one. Barf. I wasn’t in the fucking mood to hear that shit and fake my happiness about another of my family falling under this bullshit curse.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to dodge my family’s phone calls for long, but I intended to avoid them as much as possible and catch up on some much needed sleep.
The late afternoon sun sat on the horizon giving off just the right amount of light. I veered off the path and took the short cut towards my car spot.
“Thanks so much Brent. I really appreciate it.”
A voice I’d never heard before, but was the sweetest sound my ears had been blessed to listen to in my whole life, had me freezing on the spot and searching for the owner. I saw her not far in front of me. Standing right before my car was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She was tall, about five nine or ten, black ballet flats graced her feet, her legs were covered with black dress pants, and her top was light blue and hinted at her curves. Her hair was a dirty blonde like dark honey and pinned up in tight bun. I imagined taking the pins out and running my fingers through it. Her nose was petite and her lips were full and a light shade of red. Needing to touch her, I stepped closer. I had to know if her skin was as soft as it looked, and if the blue of her eyes were indeed that clear sky blue.
M
y exhaustion left me as I stared at the beauty before me. My once weary body was now hard and alive. My blood went south and my cock strained against my pants. I couldn’t tear my gaze from the woman who seemed oblivious that I was now stalking her like a lion stalking their prey.
She was mine. A warm glow flowed through me because I knew just what was happening, the curse was real and I’d found my mate. My one. The other half of my soul.
When I stood within grabbing distance, I watched her light clear blue eyes widen and listened as she mumbled into the phone, “I gotta go. I’ll call you back later Brent. Thanks.”
She bloody well wouldn’t be calling Brent back. She was mine. No other male was allowed to be with her. She wasn’t theirs to have, she was mine. She was the one. My mate. My soul. Snatching the phone off her I redialed the number. “Brent. This is Doctor Silverman,” I snarled. “No one will be calling you back because she will be with me.” I hung up and pocketed her phone.
She blinked. “What the hell did you just do?”
“Name,” I grunted. I should probably try to fight the curse, or at least get back some control over myself, but as I gazed at the beauty before me I couldn’t conjure up a reason why I shouldn’t just let myself go for once and let what my family said was ‘fate’ take over.
“Annabelle.” She held her hand out and tapped her foot impatiently. “Now please can I have my phone back?” she snapped.
I repeated her name over and over in my head, Annabelle, Annabelle. She suited the name. It was a classy beautiful name for a classically stunning woman. Reaching for her hand I held it in mine. As soon as we touched a jolt of pure need shot through me and where our fingers touched I could feel sparks.
“No.” I wasn’t giving her phone back. I needed all her attention on me. Her gaze widened and she tried to get out of my hold, but I wasn’t letting her go. “Mine. You’re mine,” I growled. Gathering her to me, I picked her up and walked us to my passenger car door. Pressing the button on my keys in my pocket, I gripped her with one hand and opened the door with the other. I gently placed a stunned woman into my car. Without giving her time to realize what was going on, and run. I bolted to my side, got in the car, started it and took off.