Page 69 of Meet Mason, the Billionaire

I got out of there before I caught something.

What a slimy jerk. But I’ll use him as a proxy so I can keep my girlfriend AND score the portrait of my grandfather.

Yeah, sometimes I’m not as clever as I think I am.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Megan

I’m sure there would be people who thought I was a huge idiot for being trepidatious about dating a man who flew me to Paris to go to the one place I’d wanted to visit more than any other.

I was terrified that I’d been duped. Brian had done a ton of damage to me. I wasn’t sure if I could ever really trust Mason, no matter the lengths he went to trying to make me feel better. Feel more secure.

I wanted nothing more than to bask in the afterglow of our Parisian trip. I wanted nothing more than to just give myself over to what I was starting to feel in my heart.

I was so upset about the whole affair that I called up Sage after midnight to talk about it. My eyes were puffy, and I had an early shift, but I just couldn’t sleep.

“Hey, what’s up?” She said sleepily.

“Did I wake you?”

“Sort of. Dozing on the couch while I’m waiting for Junebug to get off work. I agreed to give him a ride home tonight. Stupid me didn’t ask if he was working the five to three shift. What’s up? You sound rather upset for a woman who got to fly to Paris with her billionaire boyfriend.”

“That’s exactly the problem, Sage.” I heaved a heavy sigh. “I should be perfectly happy, but I’m too scared to let myself be. I really like this guy. A lot. And if he breaks my heart again, I don’t know if I can survive.”

“You like him a lot, huh?” Sage asked. It was what she didn’t say that resonated in my mind, however. What was left unspoken wasare you falling in love with him?

“Yes. I—oh god, Sage. Oh God, I feel so confused. I’ve never felt this way for anyone, ever. Not even when I was foolishly, helplessly ensnared in Brian’s web of deceit and manipulation.”

“Exactly. That wasn’t love. This is.”

I gasped, my heart skipping a beat. “Don’t say that. We’ve barely been dating a month, if it’s even been that long.”

“Hey, girl, when you know, you know. And you know. You already know that you’re in love with this guy, or you wouldn’t be calling me in a full-on panic.”

I sighed, and held the phone away from my face for a moment so she wouldn’t hear me sob.

“I think you’re right.” I groaned. “I think I do love him. What should I do? Do you think I should tell him?”

I shuddered as a chill passed down my spine.

“Do you think he’s the type to run if he hears the big L-word? Should I just keep this to myself? God, I want to run for the hills, and I want to run over to his condo and jump all over him. What the fuck is this, Sage? What kind of fresh hell is this?”

“You’re in love, baby,” Sage said with great empathy. “Love can make you a little bit crazy.”

“But it hurts.”

“Love hurts.”

That was what my grandfather had told me. He said that I would know when I was in love—truly, madly, deeply in love—when it hurt like hell.

“Damn. I can’t tell him.”

“Bullshit.” Sage scoffed. “You HAVE to tell him. He needs to know. What are you so afraid of?”

“Losing him,” I said quickly. “But more than that, what if he uses the fact that I love him to take advantage of me? What if he loses interest since I’m already ‘conquered?’”

“Those are all fears which make sense considering your past. But instead of focusing on all the ways it can go wrong, why don’t you focus on the ways it could go right?”

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