One Reckless Night

by Stephanie Morris

  cooperate. Her mind was saying no while her body screamed yes. “I’m sorry, Dane. I’m just

  confused about all of this. I’ve never been in this situation before.”

  “Neither have I Bayleigh, and I have to admit I’m nervous as hell. Not enough to walk away

  without trying though.”

  “Who says I’m walking away?”

  Amusement filled his expression. “Your actions.”

  Bayleigh couldn’t negate the fact. In the last two weeks she had avoided Dane in every way

  possible. It was with good reason. Every time she saw him she wanted him more. Even now she was

  fighting the temptation of his body. He was like her mama’s carrot cake. The more she fought the

  craving of a slice the more she wanted one. Only one serving of Dane wouldn’t be enough. She

  already knew he was addictive. If she gave into him she would never be able to get enough. The idea

  alone scared her.

  “What would be so bad about dating me?”

  Bayleigh stared at Dane with wide eyes. “Nothing, Dane. I’m more worried about the fallout

  when the relationship doesn’t work out.”

  He frowned. “We’re not even together and you already have us broken up?”

  Bayleigh realized her statement sounded negative. She sighed. “I’m not ready for a

  relationship with you right now, Dane.”

  Dane laughed. “I think I’m offended by your response. Care to tell me why you’re not ready

  for a relationship with me?”

  “Because you are distracting, demanding, high-maintenance—”

  Dane put his hands up. “Stop, Bayleigh. I’ve heard enough.” He exhaled slowly. “And I

  thought we were friends.”

  Bayleigh reached out and touched Dane. “We are, which is why I don’t want to give it up. I

  don’t want to hurt you or vice versa. My track record with relationships isn’t good but my friendship

  with you is.”

  Dane gave her a confused look. “Who says we’ll lose our friendship?”

  Bayleigh groaned, pulling away from him. “Dane, please.”

  He shook his head before moving closer to her. “No, Bayleigh. I gave in two week ago but

  not tonight. You are worth fighting for.” Dane smiled. “As well as we know each other’s wants and

  needs, how could it go wrong?”

  When his hand landed on her thigh, she tensed. He had barely touched her but her body was

  ready, anticipating his next touch.

  “We will be good together, Bayleigh. Admit it.”

  He leaned closer, slowly, giving her time to pull back but she didn’t. She didn’t want to.

  * * * *

  Dane heard Bayleigh gasp when he place a soft kiss on her neck. He hid his smile when she

  relaxed into him, resting her hands on his biceps.

  “Because Bayleigh, I don’t think one night was enough between us. We deserve so much

  more,” he whispered against the soft spot behind her ear. Her breathing became shallow as she

  clutched his arms. He trailed teasing kisses along her jawline, down her neck to the smooth skin

  where her neck and shoulder met. Bayleigh shuddered against him.

  “I can prove it,” he murmured, before lifting her into his lap.

  Her legs straddled his, bringing her into direct contact with his semi-hard sex. Her thighs

  tightened and he resisted the urge to press upward.

  Dane looked up at her barely open eyes and waited for her to tell him what the next move

  would be. She stared at him before lowering her head. The feel of her soft lips against his made his

  entire body tense. His mind wandered back to the night when her mouth had trailed over every inch

  of his body. His erection jumped in response.

  The kiss took on a life of its own, so did her hips. Her seductive sway put her in direct

  contract his hardened sex. If she kept it up he was going to embarrass himself. The need to drive her

  wild with desire and make it so she couldn’t complete a rational thought surged through him.

  Dane brought his hands up to cup her breasts, his thumbs stroking her nipples through the

  fabric of her dress. She moaned as she arched further into his touch. The sound thrilled him but this

  was going to get out of hand. He wanted to drive her out of her mind with need, but not here, not

  now. It took all of the willpower he had to pull her away. Bayleigh made a sound of protest. He just

  might be off to a good start.

  “As I said, I can prove it,” he stated softly. “We need more than one night.”

  Bayleigh sighed before dropping her face into the crook of his neck. “What are we going to

  do Dane?”

  Dane shifted her in his arms so she was sitting in his lap instead of straddling in him. “I

  know what I want to do. The question is what do you want to do?”

  Bayleigh laughed and his heart constricted at the beautiful sound.

  “If someone told me we would ever be here like this, I would have called them insane.”

  Dane pulled back, making Bayleigh lift her head to look at him. “Why? We wouldn’t be the

  first pair of friends to start dating.”

  Bayleigh stared at him, uncertainty bright in her eyes. “What am I supposed to do, Dane?”

  He smiled, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “Give us a chance.”

  She gave him a wary look. “Are you sure about this?”

  “I am and I’m more than willing to prove it.”

  “But I’m not good at relationships,” she whispered.

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He stroked her cheek, hoping he wasn’t about to stick his foot in his mouth. “Let’s do a trial

  run.”

  “A trial run?”

  “A trial relationship of sorts. We set a time limit. Once the time limit is up we evaluate the

  relationship. If we’re still happy we extend the time frame or eliminate it all together.”

  “That sounds strange but I’m listening. So, what do we do if one of us isn’t happy with the

  relationship?”

  “We call it off.”

  “What about our friendship?”

  “We make a pact that our friendship will remain the same no matter what.”

  Bayleigh shook her head, clear disbelief in her expression. “This would be the strangest thing

  I’ve ever done.”

  Dane’s heart leaped at the fact she was at least giving the idea some consideration. It was all

  he wanted.

  “How long?”

  “How long for what?”

  “The trial relationship.”

  Dane released a nervous breath hoping didn’t regret the decision he was going to make. “I’ll

  let you decide.”

  Surprise appeared on her face. Dane was glad to catch her off guard again. Bayleigh seemed

  to be more receptive when she didn’t have time to plan every detail.

  “I’ve never done this before.”

  He gave her an amused look. “Neither have I.”

  She giggled. “You have a point.”

  Her expression became serious again. “What is the shortest time you’ve dated someone?”

  Dane gave her puzzled look. “Why?”

  “Just tell me.”

  He looked at her warily. “Six months.”

  Her eyes widened slightly. A second later a shy smile spread across her mouth. “Okay, six

  months it is.”

  “Six months?”

  “We try it your way for six months.”

  This had been the last thing he expected. “You’re willing to give me six months right from

  t
he start?”

  “Is that too long?”

  “Not at all. I just want to be sure you’re comfortable.”

  Bayleigh’s expression softened. “I always have been with you.”

  Her response meant a lot to him. He never wanted Bayleigh to be uncomfortable with him.

  She had experienced enough of that in the past. Bayleigh could be hard to impress at times, but he

  was up for the challenge.

  * * * *

  Bayleigh allowed Dane to lead her from the private area of the club. She wasn’t sure what

  she just agreed to. The scary thing was she wasn’t as frightened as she should be. Maybe it hadn’t

  sunk in yet.

  Had she just agreed to a trial relationship with Dane? What did a trial relationship consist of?

  Panic started to set in but it was too late. She already agreed to the deal. He even let her set the time

  limit, a time limit longer than she expected it to be. Her reasoning in asking Dane about the shortest

  relationship backfired in a way.

  Bayleigh wanted to know the shortest amount of time it took for him to determine he wasn’t

  interested in being in a relationship with a woman. Six months was longer than she expected. Then

  again, it took her over a year to realize Erwin was mistake.

  Right now six months felt like an eternity. It was plenty of time for everything to go wrong.

  Bayleigh flinched when Dane opened the door and the loud music hit her. Her friends were no

  longer on the dance floor. They sat at the table talking and enjoying their drinks. Dane led her over

  to the table. Her friends looked at her with curious glances. She prepared herself for the inquisition

  she was about to receive. Hopefully they would take it easy on her with Dane present. Bayleigh took

  her seat in between Deidre and Giselle. Dane leaned closer to her, his lips grazing her ear. “I’m

  going to find Isaac and make sure he isn’t in any trouble.”

  She tried to hide the horror and apprehension she felt. Dane was leaving her in the lurch to

  face her friends alone. Her brain wasn’t fully functioning yet. Not after that kiss. She didn’t have a

  good reason to delay him so she nodded. He leaned closer and placed a kiss on her lips before

  promising to return quickly. When she looked at her friends she knew it wouldn’t be fast enough.

  Maylea didn’t waste any time. “Care to tell us what that was about?”

  Bayleigh folded her arms across her chest, sat back, and glared at her friends. Deidre

  laughed. “Your threatening expression isn’t going to help you.”

  Giselle slid a drink toward Bayleigh. “Here. You look thirsty.”

  Bayleigh shook her head at the underlying jab, but took the drink because she really needed

  one. Her body was overheated from the time she spent with Dane. His touch was dangerous and

  she wanted more.

  “Anytime now, Bayleigh,” Lea pressed with a smile.

  Bayleigh’s gaze narrowed. “Sorry. I’m trying to figure out why I’m friends with all of you

  again.”

  Deidre laughed. “Because no one else will put up with your nonsense.”

  “And because we are the only people who understand what you say most of the time,”

  Giselle added with a smirk.

  Bayleigh sighed with exasperation. “I swear you guys are impossible.”

  Maylea smiled. “But you love us anyway.”

  Deidre nodded. “And we love you as well. Now tell us everything. I can see it in your eyes,

  you’re dying to spill.”

  Bayleigh smiled. She did love her friends for the exception of times like this. “I’m not ready

  to spill anything. It’s hard enough to believe this is happening.”

  Giselle looked at her, her expression full of curiosity. “Hard to believe what is happening?”

  Bayleigh laughed. “You aren’t going to give up are you?”

  All three of her friends shook their heads. Bayleigh laughed. She knew from experience they

  wouldn’t let up until they had the answers they wanted. Where did she start? Things like this

  happened in movies, not real life. Yet as she sat across from her friends, she knew this wasn’t a

  movie, wasn’t a dream. There was no way she could dream for two weeks straight with her eyes wide

  open. Besides her dreams weren’t that good.

  She took a sip of the soda. Her friends were still waiting for her to talk. And she knew it was

  only a matter of time before their patience wore off. “Dane and I talked.”

  Maylea rolled her eyes. “We know that much. What did you talk about?’

  Deidre leaned forward. “You might want to give us the short version. Dane could be on his

  way back.”

  Giselle laughed. “Something tells me she is counting on it, but he can’t save you.”

  Lea nodded. “If you won’t tell us, we will ask him.”

  Bayleigh gasped in shock. “You wouldn’t.”

  Deidre grinned. “Of course we would. What are friends for?”

  “Headaches and heartburn,” Bayleigh muttered.

  Giselle chuckled. “Well it’s your fault. You are one who has the most interesting life right

  now so we can’t help ourselves.”

  Bayleigh’s gaze narrowed. “Maybe if you focus on your thing to do, you wouldn’t have so

  much time to focus on me.”

  Deidre made a wide sweeping gesture with her hand. “This is a start for me.”

  Giselle nodded. “For me as well. On a normal night, I wouldn’t be caught in a place like this.

  I’m glad we came though, because I’m having a good time.”

  Lea smiled. “We all are, including Bayleigh. Even if she doesn’t want to admit it.”

  Bayleigh exhaled heavily. She might as well tell her friends what just transpired or they would

  drive her completely insane. “I agreed to date Dane.”

  Deidre laughed. “We know.”

  It wasn’t the response Bayleigh expected. Her eyes narrowed after she grasped the meaning

  of what Deidre said. “What do you mean you know?”

  Maylea shrugged. “Dane wouldn’t have kissed you if you hadn’t agreed to. We just wanted to

  hear you say it.”

  Bayleigh gave her friends a smug look. “Don’t get too happy. It isn’t official.”

  A look of puzzlement crossed Giselle’s face. “What do you mean it isn’t official?”

  Bayleigh leaned forward. “I agreed to a trial relationship with Dane.”

  Deidre frowned. “What is a trial relationship?”

  Bayleigh gave her friends an amused look. “Exactly what it sounds like.”

  “Good to know because it sounds like insanity to me,” Lea commented before taking a drink

  of her soda.

  “It isn’t crazy,” Bayleigh responded. “It’s being smart. I don’t want to ruin our friendship for

  good sex.”

  Deidre shook her head. “A relationship is about more than good sex.”

  Bayleigh smiled sadly. “I know and that’s what worries me.”

  Chapter Five

  Bayleigh fidgeted. Saturday night had come entirely too fast. She tried to refrain from pacing

  but had to do something or she was going to drive herself to the brink of delirium. It had been a

  week since she agreed to a trial relationship with Dane. She was surprised at how little things

  changed between the two of them. At work Dane remained professional. He would tease her on

  occasion, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about it, for he tended to tease her more often

  than not. From all outside appearances anyone would still think they were friends. She smiled they

>   were friends—until it was after work hours.

  She looked forward to Dane’s nightly calls. They talked liked the two of them always did but

  there was a more personal feel to it. When he asked her to join him for dinner on the upcoming

  Saturday, she agreed. She had no idea where they were going, which should have bothered her

  considering how much she didn’t like the unknown, but it didn’t. Dane told her to wear a nice dress

  like the one she had one she had worn to Sotto Voce’s. She couldn’t hide her nervousness. She

  confided in her friends last night at their weekly girls’ night out dinner. They were excited for her.