One Reckless Night (9 page)

door. It wasn’t an outside exit like she expected. Instead it was a room with plenty of couches. There

were a few other people in the room, but it was much quieter than the club.

Dane led her to a back corner that offered them privacy. She sat down were he indicated and

he took a seat next to her. Being near him distracted her but Bayleigh forced herself to focus. She

cleared her throat before glancing over at Dane. She shouldn’t have. His expression spoke of

trouble.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“The night we shared about two weeks ago.”

Bayleigh felt her heartbeat go into overdrive at the images of them as they came to mind and

she bit her lip to hold in her whimper. “What about it?”

“I wanted to apologize to you.”

Her eyes widened. Did he regret their night together now? The hurt bubbled to the surface

before she could stop it. This was what she had wanted to avoid. “What do you want to apologize

for?”

His smile was gentle. “For putting you in an awkward position.”

“You can’t take all of the blame. I could have said no.”

“I don’t like the distance that has come between us.”

“I don’t like the distance between us either.”

“I also know we can never go back to the way things were.”

Bayleigh glanced away briefly, pain darting through her heart. “I know.”

She looked back at him and tried not to flinch at his impassioned stare. How would she ever

keep up with this dynamic man?

“Do you really think a relationship between us would be such a bad thing?”

Bayleigh hesitated. “It’s complicated.”

“It always is.”

Bayleigh glanced around. The other couples were gone. Her nerves spiked. Alone time with

him could be dangerous.

“What would be so bad about dating me, Bayleigh?”

“Who said there would be anything bad about dating you?”

She blinked when she realized what she said. “Um…what I meant to say is we would make a

mistake if we were to act upon these…desires. It could be disastrous.”

“Says who?”

Bayleigh rubbed her temples. This was difficult to deal with when her body wouldn’t

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

the 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