One Reckless Night

by Stephanie Morris

  One Reckless Night

  Stephanie Morris

  One Reckless Night

  It Happened One Night series

  Copyright © 2013 by Stephanie Morris

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  ISBN-13: 978-1-60659-972-3

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  Dedication

  To my wonderful friends who are a part of the sushi tradition. I know that none of you ever thought this would come

  out of it. Thank you for the inspiration for this series. Thank you for allowing me to tell our stories. Love you guys!

  Prologue

  “I’m tired of being good.”

  Bayleigh Williams looked up when she heard the sound of chopsticks hitting the table.

  Tonight she was enjoying her weekly outing with her three best friends. Bayleigh had met the trio in

  the school library her freshman year in college on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

  They had quickly become a quad and have been inseparable ever since.

  Bayleigh didn’t know what was wrong with her. From a young age, she’d been socially

  awkward and unfortunately, had never grown out of it. The only reason she connected so well with

  her friends was because they’d bonded on an intellectual basis first. Growing up, she had always

  been a wiz at schoolwork. Not anywhere near a genius level, but studying had come easy for her. So

  had good grades, making her somewhat of an outcast and adding to her already socially awkward

  high-school years. She’d also been chubby and her fashion sense had been a little off. Most of the

  other kids just stayed away from her.

  After high school it hadn’t gotten much better. There had been a handful of awkward

  relationships with men, none of them memorable—at least not in a good way. Besides her brother

  and father there was only one man she could be around for more than five minutes and not make a

  fool of herself. He was a co-worker, also the only male friend she had.

  “Would you care to explain your statement or do we have to guess?”

  Bayleigh stared at Deidre blankly. “Explain what?”

  Maylea put down her chopsticks. “Are you okay Bayleigh?”

  Bayleigh nodded as she remembered what she said that warranted Deidre’s question.

  Giselle picked up her chopsticks. “Personally I’m not sure I want to know. It sounds like it

  could lead to trouble.”

  Bayleigh smiled. “Which happens to be what I’m looking for.”

  Deidre’s mouth dropped open. Leaning over, she strained to look into Bayleigh’s cup. “Are

  you drinking green tea or did you sneak and get sake?”

  Bayleigh laughed. “It’s green tea.”

  Bayleigh looked down at her plate and frowned. More food had disappeared than she

  remembered eating. She must be in bad shape because she loved sushi and looked forward to eating

  at Zenkichi’s. Because of Maylea she now went through withdrawal if she went more than a week

  without sushi. Right now it was the only daring thing she did in her life. But that was about to

  change. Taking a deep breath, she looked at each of her friends.

  “I want to be bad.”

  Giselle began to choke. Maylea patted her on the back, while Deidre stared at Bayleigh a

  gaped-mouth stare.

  Maylea sighed. “What happened, Bayleigh?”

  Bayleigh shook her head. “Nothing happened, which is why I want to change it up a little.

  My life is so boring it is ridiculous. I need to let my hair down, let my bad side out.”

  Deidre’s eyes widened. “What bad side?”

  Bayleigh looked at her friends, full of excitement. “The one that I plan to develop.”

  Maylea sat her chopsticks down, giving Bayleigh an inquisitive look. “Are you sure

  something happen that we don’t know about?”

  Bayleigh sighed with frustration. “No. Like I said, that’s the problem. There isn’t anything

  happening. My life is boring.”

  Giselle looked at her with puzzlement. “You have plenty going on in your life.”

  Bayleigh’s eyes widened with surprise. “I do?”

  Deidre nodded. “Yes, you do.”

  Bayleigh folded her arms across her chest. “Besides you guys, my family, and work, name

  one thing.”

  It was a struggle for her to keep a straight face when her friends fumbled to find something

  else and smiled when they looked at her in defeat. “So, like I was saying, I need to add some spice to

  my life.” She paused before giving all of them a pointed look. “We all do.”

  Maylea was the first to speak. “What brought this on?”

  Bayleigh turned her gaze to Deidre. “You.”

  Deidre stared at her, her expression full of surprise. “Me?”

  Bayleigh nodded. “It’s more to do with your mom than you.”

  The light in Deidre’s eyes dimmed. It was one of the reasons she had been hesitant to bring

  it up. Deidre had lost her mom to brain aneurysm two months ago. Bayleigh reached across the

  table and squeezed Deidre’s hand. “Losing your mom so suddenly made me realize that life is

  precious. I’ve accomplished a lot in my life, but there is a lot more that I want to achieve. I also

  know that I don’t have forever to do it.” Bayleigh sighed. “I want to shed my good girl persona. Live

  on the wild side a little.”

  Giselle looked concerned. “Are you sure about this?”

  Bayleigh nodded. “I’m more than sure. As I said it’s something we all need to consider.”

  Deidre shook her head. “I want no part of this.”

  Bayleigh stared at her. “Can you s
it here and tell me you are one hundred percent happy with

  your life? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you handled a situation the complete

  opposite way than the lackluster, humdrum way you always do?”

  “You aren’t making any sense, Bayleigh.” Maylea pressed her fingers to her temples. “What’s

  wrong with the lives we currently live?”

  “We exist. We aren’t living. There is a major difference.”

  Giselle shook her head. “I like my life the way it is.”

  “Giselle, at some point we have to stop being so boring and predictable.”

  Deidre frowned. “There is nothing wrong with being responsible and conservative.”

  Bayleigh laughed at the emphasis Deidre put on the words.

  Maylea sat back in her chair. “What are you getting at, Bayleigh?”

  Bayleigh leaned closer to her friends. “I think we should all dump our good girl personas at

  least once. Do something out of the ordinary. Nothing life threatening, just fun.”

  Giselle shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  Bayleigh sighed. “Look around us.”

  She watched as her friends glanced around the restaurant before looking back at her.

  Deidre frowned. “What are we looking for?”

  Bayleigh shook her head. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. Yet the fact

  that they were so oblivious to what was in front of them told her she had made the right decision.

  “We are the only single women in here because we don’t have anything better to do. Not that I

  don’t enjoy spending Friday nights with you guys but it would be nice to have other options on

  occasion, like a date or something. ”

  She watched as Maylea, Giselle, and Deidre glanced around again. Their gazes returned to

  her after a few moments.

  “So this is about being single?”

  Bayleigh rolled her eyes at Giselle. “No. This is about enjoying life and if having a man is a

  part of it, then fine. If not, that’s fine, too.” Bayleigh exhaled. “I’m tired of feeling like life is passing

  me by.”

  Maylea began to fidget. “I’m not so sure about that. We know what happened the last time I

  threw caution aside.”

  “Yes, we do,” Giselle muttered.

  Bayleigh gave both Giselle and Lea a sympathetic look.

  “Alec, Joaquin, Erwin and Jerry were jerks.”

  Deidre nodded. “Bayleigh is right. They were jerks. They also knew they could take

  advantage of us—”

  “Because we are nice girls,” Lea finished.

  Giselle shook her head. “This is crazy. You can’t tell me the two of you are buying into this.”

  “I don’t want to, but Bayleigh is right.” Deidre’s expression fell a little. Bayleigh knew how

  hard the loss of Mrs. Tarlosa was on her friend.

  Deidre put down her chopsticks. “Mom used to always tell me that I needed to be more

  sociable, get out and enjoy life a little more. She said there was so much in the world I hadn’t

  discovered yet because I hadn’t stepped out of my shell. It might be nice to break out, even if it is

  temporary.”

  Bayleigh smiled. “Your mom was right, Deidre. There’s a lot you’re missing out on. We all

  are.”

  Lea and Deidre nodded in agreement. Giselle shook her head, grumbling underneath her

  breath. Bayleigh grinned. She loved her friends despite their quirks. They had a lot in common but

  there were a lot of differences between them as well. Bayleigh looked around the table studying

  them. With a Black mother and Japanese father, Maylea was the most exotic looking of the four.

  Deidre was of mixed decent as well. Her mother was Black and her father Native American.

  Giselle’s mother was Black but her father Cuban. Bayleigh was the only one who had an African

  American mother and father.

  She loved her friends, didn’t know what she would do without them. Her friends were

  always there for her when she needed them.

  “So what do you think, Bayleigh?”

  “About what?”

  Deidre laughed. “This was your plan and now you aren’t paying attention?”

  Bayleigh stared at Deidre and Maylea, wondering what they had come up with. “I’m paying

  attention now.”

  Maylea leaned forward. “Deidre and I said you’re right. So we’re going to follow your

  suggestion and do something different than we normally do.”

  Bayleigh arched a dark brow in their direction. “What are you going to do different?”

  “I don’t know, but I will when the time comes,” Deidre responded.

  Giselle shook her head. “This sounds like trouble and I want no part of it.”

  “You know you’re curious. It’s in your nature,” Bayleigh murmured.

  Giselle scowled. “I’m only curious when it comes to academic or work related studies.”

  “Tell it to someone who will believe you,” Bayleigh replied, around a laugh.

  Maylea shook her head before raising her hand to capture their waitress’s attention.

  Bayleigh’s eyes widened when Lea ordered a round of sake. The waitress reappeared with the drinks.

  Before she could ask Lea what they were for, Deidre beat her to it.

  “I know it’s Friday, but why are we having sake?”

  Maylea smiled as she reached for her glass. “Consider this a toast to the new us. A way to

  commence saying yes to doing at least one thing out of the ordinary.”

  Bayleigh smiled and reached for her sake. After a moment of hesitation Deidre picked up

  her glass. Giselle was the only hold out.

  “This is insane. I can’t do this. One of us has to be rational.”

  “We aren’t asking you to break any laws, Giselle,” Deidre muttered.

  Bayleigh nodded. “We just want to prove that nice girls can have fun too”

  Bayleigh watched as Giselle’s worried gaze traveled from Maylea to Deidre. A moment later

  she groaned in defeat, reached for her glass of sake, and raised it.

  “Okay, I’m in,” she muttered. “But is this backfires you all will find out just how much of a

  mean girl I can be.”

  Deidre laughed. “I’ll take my chances.”

  After a clink of glasses they drank and sealed the agreement.

  Chapter One

  Dane Holden lay in his bed, pretending to be asleep, wondering if he just made the biggest

  mistake of his life. Instead of spending the evening working on the project for the company he

  worked for, he had sex with Bayleigh Bishop. He’d love to say he was too intoxicated to know

  better, but they had only shared a single bottle of wine. One they didn’t even finish. Dane was sober

  enough to know that sleeping with a co-worker was a bad idea. She was also his best friend, which

  made this situation even worse.

  Inhaling quietly, he caught a whiff her soft scent. It was a fragrance unique to her, an aroma

  that teased him every time she was near. A loud thump followed by a soft curse brought him out of

  his internal musings, and he stifled a chuckle. He’d known Bayleigh for five years and never heard

  her curse before now. Still, she was moving stealthily around the room in complete darkness.

  Assuming she was looking for her clothes, it bothered him that she felt she had to leave under cloak

  of darkness.

  He was also troubled by the reality of his life not going the way he planned. Right after his

  thirtieth birthday, he’d felt ready to settle down. Yet, at thirty-five, he still didn’t have the wife and

&
nbsp; children he’d planned for. Until tonight he was happy to have this project as a distraction.

  Due to the time constraints, he invited Bayleigh over to work on the project. He ordered

  takeout and everything had been fine. How they ended up in bed together was beyond him. One

  minute they were talking about her research results. The next he was kissing her. The kiss wasn’t one

  he expected from Bayleigh. It was no secret that she was quiet and reserved. Yet, her kiss had been

  anything but.

  It was hot with no hint of shyness. There wasn’t any other way he could put it other than to

  say the sex had been extraordinary. He hadn’t expected her to be so responsive. She was the only

  woman he never had to ask what she liked. Her body told him.

  Dane swallowed a groan. Had he really had sex with Bayleigh? It wasn’t that he’d never

  thought about her in a sexual way. She was a beautiful woman and he would never deny that he was