“Yes. I know he has a bit of a reputation as a ladies’ man.”
“A bit? My God, Val.” She shook her head. “And yet you let him in your bed not a day after you yourself warned me about his faithlessness.”
Val took a moment to absorb Noelle’s words and consider the next attack. “True. I think we can all agree that night was a mistake.”
“And it would be a mistake for me to go out with Dane. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Not at all.” Val found the angle she needed to sell. “The truth is, he hasn’t been the same since you. He’s very hesitant to ask a woman out.” She held her breath to keep from laughing at this pile of bullshit. It wasn’t altogether false that he’d changed since Noelle rebuffed him. But if anything, he was on the warpath, burning a hole in his mattress like he had something to prove.
“Dane? Hesitant? He didn’t seem so when he asked me to dinner.”
“Oh! He asked you out?”
“Well, no. He didn’t ask me out so much as coerce me.”
“What do you mean?”
“He made a bet. I lost. Would you call that a date?”
Val raised a corner of her mouth. “Interesting. I guess you’re right then. Well, that’s good.”
“How so?”
“You seem like a nice, caring person. I’d hate to see him get hurt again. He’s been so closed off for so long. For a minute, I thought maybe—”
“Maybe what?”
“Well, he doesn’t confide in me like he used to, but I can tell you he’s afraid to make himself vulnerable. I thought maybe if you were ready to give him a chance now, you might reach him. But as you said, it wasn’t a date. That’s probably best for both of you.”
Noelle’s brow wrinkled the slightest amount. Did she worry she might have hurt poor Dane? “I’m sorry. It’s just that I can’t reconcile what you’re telling me with everything else I know.”
“You don’t know him like I do. He likes to keep up the image of the bad boy because it puts up a wall of protection.”
“I find it hard to believe you right now. I took your word that he’s a womanizer through and through. I turned him down based on the portraityoupainted.”
Val shook her head. “I was wrong.”
Noelle wadded up her napkin. “No, you weren’t. You were the next in line. Doesn’t that bother you? Or was that what you’d intended?”
A brief image of Dane sprawled across her bed flashed in Val’s mind. No, that did not bother her one bit. She reached across and took Noelle’s hand. “He was hurt and embarrassed. I had no idea he would come to me, but he did.”
“I’ve sometimes wondered why he went to you. Everyone knew you were friends, but you’d adamantly denied any romantic interest. It has occurred to me that perhaps he was trying to goad Geraldo.”
Val kept her smile in place as she processed a move she’d never once considered. “It wouldn’t make any sense for Dane to provoke Geraldo. What could he have possibly hoped to achieve?”
“Maybe exactly this? He doesn’t seem terribly concerned about losing his own company. But like you say, I don’t know him at all.”
“Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I was the one wanting to goad Geraldo?”
Noelle’s eyebrows rose. “Are you saying you used Dane to free yourself from Geraldo? I find that—”
“Weak?”
“No, I was going to say . . . calculated.”
“That it was not.” She didn’t worry Noelle would relay this confession to Dane. He’d never believe Val spoke the truth here to this woman. “If I’d been more calculating, Geraldo would be here, and I’d be there.”
“With Dane?”
