One Reckless Night (5 page)

Bayleigh smiled to herself. Not that bad sex would have made the situation any better. But at

least she would be able to put this all behind her.

Instead, for the last week her mind, her thoughts had been plagued by Dane. It was hard to

focus at work. He wanted to talk to her, but she put him off every time. She just didn’t know what

to do.

She didn’t want to lose Dane’s friendship, it was too valuable to her.

Lea leaned closer to her. “So Bayleigh, are you going to tell us what’s bothering you? Or, are

we going to have to play twenty questions?”

Bayleigh groaned. Her friends weren’t going to give up until she told them. It might be a bad

idea. Or maybe they could give her a fresh perspective on things.

“I slept with Dane,” she whispered.

It took a full minute before her friends responded. Deidre was the first to recover. “You did

what?”

Bayleigh dropped her face into her hands. “I know. I know. It was a mistake. Now I don’t

know what to do.”

She now knew what morning after sex regret felt like. Four days later she still reeled from it.

Something monumental happened that night. Dane touched her in ways that scared her to death.

“What happened?”

Bayleigh looked up at Maylea. “You want
details
?”

Giselle gasped. “
No!
We don’t want
details
.” Giselle looked at Lea with a wide-eyed stare.

“
Do we?”

Lea laughed. “No, we don’t. I meant in general.”

Bayleigh shook her head. “I don’t know what happened. We worked on our presentation,

had dinner, and the next thing I know we were in bed together. We got a little reckless and now our

friendship is ruined.”

Deidre frowned. “Dane doesn’t seem like the type to end a friendship because of one

mistake.”

Bayleigh wanted to cry. “He wants to date me.”

Their eyes widened.

“He
what?”
Giselle gasped.

“Dane wants to date me,” Bayleigh repeated.

Her friends looked as stunned as she felt. Maylea set her chopsticks down. “Why are you

upset then?”

Bayleigh’s mouth fell open. “Dane and I are
friends
.”

Deidre nodded but her confusion was clear on her face. “Yes, you are. Is that a bad thing?”

Bayleigh nodded. “We broke the number one friendship rule.”

Lea gave her a puzzled look. “What rule?”

“The rule that says friends don’t sleep together.”

Giselle shook her head. “I’ve never heard that rule before.”

“Well it exists,” Bayleigh muttered.

Maylea looked at Bayleigh, and frowned. “Are you sure it isn’t something else?”

Bayleigh narrowed her eyes at Lani. “What else could it be?”

Her friends shared a look but remained silent. The action frustrated Bayleigh even more.

“What was that look about?”

Deidre was the only one brave enough to speak, her voice soft and hesitant. “Well Bayleigh,

it’s just you haven’t been the same since your relationship with Erwin—”

“Erwin has
nothing
to do with this,” Bayleigh snapped.

Her friends looked at her in shock. She became appalled by her own response. She gave

Deidre a look of apology. “I’m sorry.

This has been a rough week.”

Deidre reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. I would probably be

stressed out if I were in your situation as well.”

Giselle shook her head. “This isn’t a bad situation. Bayleigh is making it worse than it really

is.”

Bayleigh looked at Giselle, her irritation level threatening to boil over again. Giselle smiled in

response. “You’re overreacting.

There’s nothing wrong with friends dating each other. It happens all the time.”

Bayleigh shook her head. “I don’t care what you say. Dane and I are better off if we remain

friends.”

Lea frowned. “Who says you can’t date
and
be friends? Look at my parents. Look at yours.”

“Marriage is different,” Bayleigh murmured.

Giselle tilted her head to the side. “It is?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Bayleigh drew blank at Deidre’s question. She hated when she didn’t have a logical answer.

Then again, nothing about this was logical. If she had just been able to keep her hormones in check,

they wouldn’t be sitting here having this discussion.

“Remember Bayleigh, you were supposed to do something that you normally wouldn’t do as

a nice girl,” Lea responded with a gentle smile.

Bayleigh gasped. “This has nothing to do with that.”

Giselle looked baffled. “It doesn’t?”

Bayleigh shook her head. “This just happened. Dane and I were eating dinner and talking,

the next thing I know we were kissing. You can figure out the rest from there.”

“So Dane wasn’t your one bad thing?” Deidre asked.

Bayleigh shook her head. “No, he wasn’t. I admit I should have said no, but I didn’t. Now

here I sit.”

She felt even worse at the expression of sympathy on her friend’s face. If Bayleigh could kick

herself she would. She had screwed up in a major way. This was one time when she couldn’t figure

out how to fix a dilemma. It was hard to do when focused on the things he did to her that night.

The stuff she did to him in return. A groan escaped her. Sitting at a table with her friends, thinking

about sex with Dane, was embarrassing. She had to stop.

Her brother had always teased her about her wild imagination. Lynden always kidded her

about it getting her into trouble one day. Trouble she wouldn’t be able to get herself out of. How

right he’d been.

If her brother could see her now he would be beside himself. On the other hand, she was

beside herself. How in the world had Dane managed to captivate her after one night of sex—

fantastic
sex? If she were honest with herself she would admit he had captivated her long before their

night of passion. Dane was a captivating man, with the intelligence to match. It was one of the main

reasons they got along so well. He wasn’t intimidated by her intellect any more than she was

intimidated by his brainpower.

Still, men like Dane didn’t happen to her. Another reason why she valued their relationship

the way she did. Bayleigh released a quiet breath. She knew other woman would be clamoring to

have a piece of Dane. They did. Bayleigh had witnessed it several times. Dane was different than

most men. Instead of using the women in the way they asked to be, he ignored them. In the five

years she had known him, Dane proved to her time and time again how selective a man he was.

She wasn’t in the same league with any of the women he dated. Her sense of fashion was

lacking, mainly because she dressed for comfort not style. Yes she was attractive, but she wouldn’t

turn every head in the room unless she tripped and fell on her face. Thanks to her mother who had

been happy to pass on her round hips and ample breasts, she had been blessed with a curvaceous

figure. Bayleigh was grateful her father had passed along some of his height. At five-foot eight-

inches, her height balanced her curves.

She could still remember the look on Dane’s face after he undressed her. He had been

stunned. Her mother and sister always asked her why she hid her body. At this point, it was more

out of habit than anything else. In her younger days she’d been overweight. The teasing, at least

about her body, had been less frequent if she wore baggy clothes.

“Bayleigh.”

She looked up at her friends, their expressions amused. The fact that they found her

suffering funny didn’t sit well.

“You drifted off again,” Giselle stated with a smile.

Bayleigh sighed. “I know.”

“What were you thinking about?” Deidre asked before eating a piece of sushi.

“I was thinking Dane means the world to me and I don’t want to lose his friendship.”

“Who says you’re going to?” Lea questioned with a kind smile.

I do. Because I have rotten luck with men
, Bayleigh wanted to scream. Instead she shrugged. “I’m

just confused by all of this,” she murmured. “Dane caught me off guard. He told me he’s liked me

for a long time.”

Deidre snickered. “I believe him.”

Bayleigh tried to glare at Deidre but wasn’t successful. “You all are supposed to be on my

side.”

Giselle leaned over, gave Bayleigh’s hand a light squeeze, and a sweet smile. “We are, which

is why we aren’t afraid to tell you how ridiculous you’re acting right now.”

Lea nodded in agreement. “We also aren’t afraid to say your self-esteem needs some work.”

“My self-esteem is just fine.”

Deidre looked at Bayleigh, her expression full of disbelief.

“Then why do you find it so hard to believe that Dane could be attracted to you?”

She looked at Deidre. “I never said that.”

“You don’t have to,” Lea added. “It’s all over your face.”

Bayleigh shook her head. “This just doesn’t seem real. I feel like any moment now I’m going

to wake up and realize I’m dreaming—Ow!” Bayleigh gave Giselle a hard look. “Why did you pinch

me?”

Giselle smiled. “To show you this isn’t a dream.”

Lea gave Bayleigh a questioning look. “Why would you dream about Dane being attracted to

you?”

Bayleigh opened her mouth but no words came out. She had backed herself into a corner

she may never get out of.

“Do you believe in destiny, Bayleigh? Fate?”

Bayleigh looked over at Deidre. She sighed. This was going to be a long night. “Yes, Deidre.

I believe in destiny and fate.”

Deidre smiled. “What if it was meant for you to get to know Dane as a friend first?”

Bayleigh’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”

Deidre leaned closer. “What if you were meant to get to know Dane for the good guy that

he is, so when this time came you didn’t have any reservations?”

Bayleigh frowned. She always had reservations. It was the reason she had made the wise

decisions she had in life. It was also the reason she lived a boring one.

Maybe she did need to stop overanalyzing everything. What good could it do besides drive

her crazy? Life confused her. Men confused her more. Dane was dangerous territory. It would be so

easy to fall for him. She didn’t want to admit it, but Dane was everything she wanted in a man.

Lusting over him didn’t help any. There were too many differences between them that were okay in

a friendship but could wreck a relationship. Where she was shy, he was extroverted. While he was

actually funny, he laughed at her corny jokes because he was a good friend. Dane craved new

adventures, where she preferred the familiar.

Was that the reason Dane wanted to be with her? Did he see her as a challenge? She closed

her eyes and Dane’s image came to mind. His likeness was so real she almost thought he was there.

Her attention drifted back to the feel of his lips against hers. He’d kissed her like he couldn’t get

enough of her taste. When he had touched her, his hands had been firm but gentle. Bayleigh could

remember the intense look he gave her as if he were seeing her for the first time.

“You’re doing it again, Bayleigh.”

She jumped at the sound of Giselle’s voice. Embarrassment raced through her. What was

she doing? How could she lust over the man she couldn’t have—didn’t want? It was a bad thing to

do in front of her friends.

Dane was dangerous. Bayleigh wasn’t even involved with him, yet she was already behaving

in a way she shouldn’t be. This was something a woman like her shouldn’t do…wouldn’t do. She

looked up at her friends who were studying her with open curiosity.

“You guys aren’t helping me.”

Maylea smiled. “We are helping you more than you know.”

Bayleigh shook her head and tried to focus on her food. She was able to eat a few more bites

before her thoughts drifted back to Dane. A groan of frustration bubbled to the surface but she held

it back.

A distraction. She needed a distraction.

Bayleigh looked up at her friends who seemed to be eating their food at a rate she would if

she wasn’t so busy lusting over Dane.

“So have any of you said yes to something you would normally say no to?”

Deidre shook her head. “Nope.”

Lea finished chewing her sushi before responding. “No.”

“I haven’t either,” Giselle sighed.

Bayleigh laughed. “Well it seems like we are off to a good start. Maybe we should set a

deadline?”

Deidre wrinkled her nose. “Not a good idea. Then it would feel like work.”

Giselle nodded. “I agree.”

Lea chuckled. “We are so boring.”

“Hey,” Giselle protested. “I’m not boring, just different.”

“We all are,” Deidre added.

Bayleigh rolled her eyes. “But not in the way that counts.”

Lea smiled. “You must be since you’ve managed to capture the attention of one of the most

gorgeous men we all know.”

Bayleigh laughed but her laughter died off when she realized Lea had a point. How had she

captured Dane’s attention? She’d tried to keep the attention of her ex-boyfriend Erwin. To say she

hadn’t been successful was an understatement.

Bayleigh groaned in frustration. “What am I supposed to do about Dane?”

“Easy.” Deidre laughed. “You’re supposed to follow your own advice.”

“What would that be?”

“Do what the nice girl in you
wouldn’t
do. Just say yes.”