My Bad Boy's Secret: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (56 page)

ALICIA

The man with the golden mask was the same man that escorted me to the gondolas when I was lost and angry at the dinner party. He now wore the same golden mask and I recognized it. I looked back at Mason. He seemed angry. That was strange. He did not mind me dancing with men all night, but now he seemed to be bothered. Or maybe I was just drunk.

“You are a very beautiful swan. I would like to take you to dinner tomorrow,” the golden masked man said.

“Oh, um sir…”

“Please, Antonio,” he said.

“Antonio, nice to meet you. I am Alicia, but I am going back to Paris in the morning,” I said.

“Oh that is a shame. If you are ever back in Venice I hope that we shall meet again,” he said.

“Yes, I agree,” I said smiling.

“And if I am in Paris I will try to find you. Where do the swans like to be?” he asked.

I laughed at his joke. “The museums I suppose.”

Finally the dance was over and Antonio kissed the top of my hand and walked off. I found Mason and he was not in a great mood.

“Now, we are leaving,” he said.

“Okay, I think I could go to sleep now, I am very tired,” I said not knowing why his mood had changed but I did not care. It was a very beautiful night. It was the best, and the ball was everything I could have hoped for. I never asked Mason why he was angry about Antonio. I think mostly because I did not care. When we arrived back at his Palazzo he once again slept in a separate bedroom. I didn’t understand why since we had just had sex, but I didn’t question it. If he wanted to be angry and pouty like a French woman that was fine with me. I was over his mood swings and his unusual way of punishing people. I had stayed for the masquerade ball and now that it was over I was ready to go back to Paris. I pulled out my phone once I was out of the massive costume and sent Andres a message. I wanted to meet him at the café across the street from my house around one in the afternoon. I knew that we were leaving Venice in the morning and it only took about an hour to get back on Mason’s plane so I would be back in plenty of time to start the new chapter of my Paris trip. One without the gorgeous bad billionaire that had a way of making me do and feel things that I should not. I needed to stay away from him, even though I knew it would be hard. If I didn’t have the distraction of Andres, I am not sure that I would be able to do it.

“We are leaving at ten,” Mason said as he peaked his head in the door. I was surprised to see him standing there.

“Okay.”

He looked at me up and down like he was going to say something else, but he didn’t. He closed the door.

The next morning we were on our way back to Paris. I would be done with Mason now. It was fun to be with him but his behavior with the Viscountess still stuck with me. We had run our fun sex games to the point of not being able to have respect for each other anymore. I was glad that all of this happened to me, and maybe I would even use the diamonds he gave me so that I could have money to move to Europe. Being with him was not something that I regretted but I was ready to move on from it.

When the car pulled up to my apartment it was noon. I was surprised to see Andres sitting on my door stoop. A cigarette was dangling from his lips and he was casually sketching. Mason shifted in his seat next to me.

“What he doing at your place?” he asked.

“That’s none of your business,” I said, politely smiling as I got out of the car.

“Oh Alicia, hello. I know you said coffee at one but I had time so I just came to wait,” Andres said.

“That is fine. Please come up while I change,” I said.

Then Mason did something that changed everything. It was so shocking and appalling. He rolled down the window of his car as it was about to pull away and said. “Alicia, I will come by tomorrow to give you the reward for test number four. Since you passed it so well. Keeping up appearances while you have sex in public is a hard test for most people, but you passed. I will send the reward to you.”

Then the car rolled away. I stood there in shock with my mouth open. Andres just looked at me, confused, shocked and appalled.

PART 5

ALICIA 

I could not believe what had just happened. Mason had not only embarrassed me, but he was trying to sabotage things for me with Andres. So much had happened over the course of the last few weeks. A bad boy French billionaire, Mason Dreux had seduced me, and he had done it in a way I never expected, through erotic games. His tests had brought me out of my shell. They helped me figure out who I was and what I wanted. They made me feel more sexually confident than I had ever felt before. But most importantly and very unexpectedly, it made me fall for Mason. However, he was a scoundrel and he proved it the day he flirted with the Viscountess in Venice right in front of me. That was when I knew that I needed to get away from him. I needed space to forget about him because any time I was with him, his good looks, charm, and romantic ways, easily reeled me back in. So before we left Venice, I had a plan that when we returned to Paris I would no longer be seeing him. I would call the whole thing off. I felt confident in my plan only because I had been talking to the cool and cute French art teacher, Andres and knew that he would be a good enough distraction to get myself free of the hold Mason had over me. That was up until a second ago when Mason dropped the bomb on me and Andres. I turned to the black car as he rolled down the window and he just smiled that dashing smile of his. I knew this could not be good. Then he said, “Alicia I will come by tomorrow to give you the reward for test number four. Since you passed it so well. Keeping up appearances while you have sex in public is a hard test for most people, but you passed. I will send the reward to you.”

I stood there in shock for what seemed like five minutes as I processed what he had said. A part of me did not believe he had said it. First of all, I had no idea that we did at the ball was the next test. He had tricked me into it, in a way. Secondly, he said it in front of Andres on purpose to sabotage me and to let Andres know there was some sort of strange erotic thing going on between Mason and I. Thirdly, he was so proud of himself in his arrogance for saying what he did with a smile as the car drove off. Once I fully understood what he said, I was fuming. I turned to Andres.

“Well, that was interesting,” he said arching his eyebrows at me.

“That’s one way to describe it. You have to excuse him, he’s very jealous and only said that because you are standing here,” I said, feeling myself turn bright pink.

“Jealous? So he is your boyfriend?” Andres asked.

“No, he is my lover… was my lover. That is all,” I said as I placed the key in the door and turned.

“And this reward he spoke of?” he asked.

“If you really want to know I will tell you. I will tell you the whole truth, but you will have to come inside,” I said as I looked at him. There was no point in being mysterious with Andres. If I tried to lie to him I would only be making things worse for myself.

A few minutes later we sat around my table next to my Juliet balcony overlooking the café with coffee in our hands. Then I told him everything. I left out the sexual details but I told him that Mason and I were lovers only and that for fun we played role-playing sex games. It was nothing serious, it was just fun on my vacation. That was it. I did not tell him that I had feelings for Mason, or that the tests ended up being so much more to me, and bonded me to Mason. I just wanted Andres to know some of it, not all of it.

“That is all very surprising, but not that surprising. You get involved with a Frenchman, it will be all about sex, but you get involved with a French billionaire, well… I think you know now. Don’t worry, I do not judge you. Being in Paris is all about experiencing what life has to offer. You should sketch about it.”

“That’s a good idea,” I laughed. I was feeling very surprised that Andres didn’t seem to mind at all. He was acting as if things like this were normal in France. Maybe they were for all I knew. I was relieved that it didn’t drive him away. In fact I think he found it intriguing and mysterious that I had gotten caught up in such a weird erotic adventure. I freshened up and we went to lunch. Andres was nice and we had a good time, but Mason’s words would not stop ringing in my ears.

The next day I didn’t want to wait around for Mason to drop by with his reward. Who knows what it would be. It might be another trick, just the way my trip to Venice reward had turned into the sex in public test. I did not trust his rewards now. So I decided to set out early, but I think Mason was smarter than that because as soon as I walked out of my flat I heard, “Breakfast?”

I turned to see him leaning against his black car with a cup of coffee in his hand. I narrowed my eyes at him and continued walking. He laughed and followed me.

“Come on, you can’t be mad at me for yesterday. It was funny, and it was the truth,” he said as he trailed behind me. I tried to walk as fast as I could without looking at him. I couldn’t. Even in the quick glance that I got in, I could see just how gorgeous he looked. He was beautiful in his grey suit and polished way of dressing. Today he had a tight grey vest on under his blazer with a skinny tie tucked into it. It was a very dapper look and I wanted to tear it off of him.

“Please, just get away from me Mason. I’m done. I’m done with your tricks and your test. In fact, I have a test for you, stay away from me forever,” I said as I stomped forward harder and harder.

“I agree,” he said.

I stopped in my tracks. “You do? Then what are you doing here?”

“I just came to give you this. This is your reward for the last test. It was the final test of all the tests, and you passed them all. So here is your reward, just as promised, and I promise to leave you alone,” he said smiling and handing me a large envelope.

“You do? Just like that?” I asked feeling confused and a little disappointed. Even though it was my plan to never see him again, I was sad that he was thinking the same thing.

“We’ve had our fun,” he said. “Enjoy,” he motioned toward the envelope in my hand and then walked back to his car and drove off. I stood there confused by his quick discarding of me. I was right to say I didn’t want to see him again, if just to save myself of the embarrassment at least. I waited until his black car was well out of sight and then I opened the envelope. I could only imagine it was a goodbye letter of sorts because it was so unceremoniously given to me, unlike the other extravagant gifts. I pulled out a large stapled grouping of papers. It was in French and I could not understand it. Then I moved the packet aside and found another stapled packet, which was in English. My eyes opened wide. This could not be what I thought it was! It was a deed to a flat. Not just any flat, it was the flat that I was currently living in. It had been bought and signed over to me!

“Holy shit!”

Was this a joke? I pushed the papers into my purse and ran back to my building to try to find information on the landlord and find out if this was for real. If it was, it was a very extravagant and expensive reward. Furthermore, it was just what I wanted. I wanted to live here in Paris, and somehow Mason knew that. Just when I was ready to push him out of my life, he did something very meaningful and amazing, or very slick. By purchasing and then giving me this flat, I would then be thinking of him all the time while I was living there. Ugh… the nerve of him!

MASON

I had to admit that I was trying to sabotage anything that she could possibly have with the art teacher. I was jealous of him. He was a starving artist and he was my competition. How could that be? I had everything and he had nothing. But he was the type of man that would give her his heart and I could not do that. Even though I knew that I was in love with Alicia, I had to find a way out of love. But in the moment that I saw him waiting for her, even though I was dropping her off, it didn’t faze him. He didn’t even acknowledge my existence, and that’s why I did it. That’s why I said what I said about the sex in public and her reward. It was not to hurt her, it was to push him away. I wanted him to be confused, appalled, and freaked out. I’m not sure if it worked, but the look on both of their faces made me very happy as my car drove away. I was a bad boy after all, and this is the type of shit I did over and over again. But an hour later, it had sunk in and I felt shitty about it. Even stopping by Emery’s flat to fuck her all night did not push Alicia out of my mind. I needed to have a fresh start on this new chapter. The tests were over, and by this time in the series, I already had another woman lined up to run through the next batch of test, but this time I did not. I only had my old list of lovers, who bored me. I was fucked. Still, I had already planned on giving her the very expensive and life changing reward the very first time I went into her flat. That was when I had my real estate man look into buying the flat and start the procedure of putting in my offer. It was then that I knew I wanted her here in Paris. Though, that was before I fell for her. Now, I was torn. Do I give her the deed to the flat as her reward as I had planned? Or do I give her something else, like another piece of jewelry? That way she would have to leave for to the United States when her summer trip was over. If I gave her the deed, not only could she go back and forth between France and her home, but I would also know exactly where to find her if I caved in. Well, I needed to make a decision by the morning. I had to catch her before she got started on her day because I knew that she would be incredibly pissed off at me.