The Maybe Boyfriend Read online

  Megan and Zander were so opposite that a relationship between them seemed as likely as Belle and the Beast—except Megan considered herself to be the beast in their scenario. She knew she certainly didn’t stack up to Zander’s past girlfriends on paper.

  Ever since taking over as the face of Cor-Tec, Zander had become a bit of a celebrity. He became the youngest billionaire in Ireland when he convinced the Core-Tec board they needed to move into military defense contracts. He landed a few rather high-profile contracts, launching the business as a global contender, which secured him as the company’s new CEO at just twenty-one years old.

  Zander’s promotion gave Cor-Tec some major media buzz and Zander more money than anyone his age ought to have. And he knew how to milk it.

  In the year since he’d taken over as CEO, he‘d made quite a name for himself. Zander donated money to children’s charities and sponsored Ireland’s premier football club in Dublin. He attended film openings and even rode on the Shamrock Rovers’ soccer float at the St. Patty’s parade.

  It also didn’t hurt that Zander was devastatingly handsome. His face graced billboards and ads across the UK. And his dating profile read like a who’s who of Europe’s rich and famous. He’d recently graced the covers of tabloid sites, linked to supermodels, actresses and musicians. But Megan was never someone who let things like that bother her. She was a self-proclaimed lemonade girl—give her some lemons and she’d find a way to make a killer vodka lemonade.

  As a short, nerdy, American nobody, Megan knew she wasn’t the typical type of girl that Zander dated, but she couldn’t deny the connection they had. Plus, the fact that Zander made time in his busy schedule to video chat with Megan almost daily. It had to mean she had a chance.

  But from the look Sam was giving her, Megan knew her best friend was about to give one of her famous, ‘don’t get your hopes up’ speeches.

  “Meg . . .” Sam started.

  “Save it, Sam.”

  “You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

  “Yes I do. You’re going to say what you always do when I fall for a guy. You tell me to take it easy, go slow, pace myself, don’t overwhelm him with my fantastically quirky, yet adorable personality.”

  Sam tried to hide her grin. “Okay, but you know I’m right.”

  “No, you would be right if I didn’t know Zander, but this isn’t our first date. It’s practically our five millionth. He already knows and loves me.”

  “This is what I’m talking about, Meg. Tonight isn’t a date. It’s the four of us going for drinks at a pub.”

  “Fine, it’s a double date,” Megan protested.

  “Did Zander actually call it a date?”

  “No, but—”

  Sam crossed her arms. “See!”

  “What?”

  “We’re going to be living with Zander for an entire semester, Megan. You can’t go in guns blazing.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because if things don’t work out then you’re still going to have to live and work with him, and it’ll make it awkward for all of us.”

  “Why wouldn’t things work out? They worked out for you and Devon.”

  “That’s different.”

  “How?”

  “Zander is not Devon,” Sam said.

  “Why does she always say that?” Megan asked looking at Devon for help, but he only put his hands up in surrender, wisely choosing to stay out of the conversation.

  Sam continued. “I get it, okay? Zander is exciting and handsome and charming, but I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “I hate that saying,” Megan said dismissively. “Plus, hello! Have you learned nothing from Dumbledore? Life is all about getting hurt. But our choices show us who we are,” she added quoting one of her favorite series.

  “You’re twisting that quote and you know it.”

  “Whatever, you know what I mean. I’m not like you, Sam. I’m not afraid of everything. I go after what I want.”

  “Fine,” Sam said, rising to her feet. “But this Cor-Tec film is a huge opportunity. You should think about the repercussions before you throw away your entire future for a fling with a cute boy just because you like his accent.” With that Sam stomped off to her seat in the back of the plane to resume her studies.

  “I like more than his accent!” Megan called after her, but Sam didn’t respond. Megan sunk sullenly into her seat feeling deflated. She and Sam rarely fought and it sucked that it was happening now. Why couldn’t her best friend just be happy for her?

  Megan turned to Devon. “Why is she so PMSy?”

  “Sam is on yer side, Megs. She’s just protective of those she loves,” Devon added softly.

  “I know, but you’re both acting like I don’t know Zander at all. We’ve been talking nearly every day for three years. And don’t forget we’re the ones who got you and Sam together, so we’re not total Muggles.”

  Devon smiled. “I know. But Sam’s not wrong. The Zander you know and the Zander we know might not be the same person.”

  “Like Peter Parker and Spiderman? Because I could get down with that.”

  “More like Jekyll and Hyde.”

  “Good reference,” Megan replied proudly. She’d spent the past three years helping supplement Devon’s severely lacking movie repertoire. “But I think you’re wrong.”

  “I hope I am.”

  “I know you are. I know Zander and there’s no way he’s secretly the monster you’re painting him to be.”

  “That’s not what we’re saying, Megs. But ye speak to him for two minutes at a time. Yer only seeing what he wants ye to see.”

  “I know that. But I don’t care. We have a connection and I’m honestly just happy to get to spend some time with him and see Ireland, so stop worrying so much. Let’s just enjoy the ride.”

  “If yer happy I’m happy, Megs.”

  “Good,” she said pulling two mini bottles of whiskey from the stash in her purse and handing one to Devon. “To Ireland and happiness.”

  Devon smirked devilishly as he uncapped the whiskey bottle and clinked it against Megan’s. “Sláinte.”

  Zander

  “Right on time,” Zander said to himself as he glanced at the clock on instrument panel again, grinning. There wasn’t much he loved more than flying his chopper. Well, maybe he’d love the look on Megan’s face when she saw him in it a wee bit more. But that was yet to be seen.

  He hadn’t told Megan he planned to pick her up in his chopper. He wanted it to be a surprise. He was pulling out all the stops to impress her. Ever since he found out that Megan, Sam and Devon were coming to Ireland, Zander had been on cloud nine. His life was definitely going well, but it was strangely lonely at the top and definitely more overwhelming than he’d ever imagined.

  But he wouldn’t trade it and he’d be a damn fool to complain. Zander had come from nothing and worked his arse off for the opportunity to run Cor-Tec. Devon had been happy to hand over the reins while he pursued environmental studies at Uni in the states, but Zander wasn’t one to let things lie. He never wanted to feel like he’d just been handed something. He believed in earning his place. He’d always been that way. With sports, women and now business.

  He certainly felt that way with Megan. She’d strangely become his crutch over the past few years. Zander rarely let himself rely on others. A long history of disappointment and abandonment had taught him he couldn’t count on anyone but himself. But Megan, with her bubbly optimism and infectious humor, had worn through Zander’s normally impenetrable exterior. And now that she was under his skin he didn’t know what to do.

  At first, Zander hadn’t seen the harm in letting Megan in. She lived in Boston. It’s not like she could hurt him from thousands of miles away. She couldn’t be anything more than a fun distraction with so much distance between them. But Zander hadn’t expected to become so attached to her.

  They talked nearly every day. Sometimes more. He’d grown accustom to Megan’s quirk
y texts and random quotes that he sometimes spent hours trying to decipher. She was also the only person he ever shared his personal thoughts and worries with. Megan just had this way of making him feel safe. She demanded authenticity and didn’t stand for his usual bollocks. He loved that about her.

  Megan had wormed her way into Zander’s heart and now that she was flying to Ireland to spend the next few months with him, he was starting to worry.

  What if he didn’t measure up to the guy she thought he was? Or what if she wasn’t everything he’d built her up to be? Or worse, what if she was?

  Zander knew he had a devastating crush on the adorable American, but he’d never expected to have the opportunity to pursue it. And now that he did, he wasn’t sure he should. Megan was only in Ireland for a semester. Afterwards, she’d return to Boston and go on being an incredible filmmaker, while Zander would be left behind as usual. He hated playing things safe, but he had a nagging feeling he needed to guard himself around Megan. He hadn’t even met her in person, yet he knew without a doubt she had the ability to hurt him like few others had.

  2

  Megan

  “Oh my God!” Megan squealed as she peered out the window of their private plane. “Is that him? Is that Zander?”

  Their plane had just taxied to a stop in front of a hanger and few yards away, a ridiculously fit man in a leather jacket and aviators rested against the sleek red body of a helicopter.

  “Please tell me that’s him,” Megan repeated.

  “Blimey!” Devon exclaimed joining Megan at the window. “Sam! You’ve gotta see this. Zander’s flown the chopper to greet us.”

  Megan barely heard Sam grumbling in the back of the plane. She was too busy gathering her things. She couldn’t wait to get off the plane and into Zander’s strong, leather-clad arms. She felt like she was on the set of Top Gun—Zander could be her Maverick any day. He certainly looked yummy enough to make her heart take flight.

  She took a deep breath, wondering if she was truly ready to meet the man of her dreams. She checked her breath and popped in a piece of rainbow gum as the flight attendants prepared the cabin for disembarking.

  Finally the stairs were down, but a sudden flurry of nerves made Megan insist Sam and Devon get off the plane first. She took the time to catch her breath.

  “Play it cool, Megs,” she reminded herself. “Play it cool.”

  Zander

  Zander fought his urge to jog to the plane and greet his friends. He wasn’t keen to look like an over-eager bloke seeking them out, but he was desperate to see Megan. Fighting his desires, Zander held back. It was better to let them come to him.

  Once the plane was parked and the stairs rolled out, he opened the door of his R44 Raven helicopter and let out the gangly wolfhound barking within.

  Eggsy saw Devon trouncing down the stairs of his plane and sprinted across the tarmac howling like a pup separated from its mum.

  Devon dropped to his knees to greet the gigantic mut. “Eggsy! I’ve missed you, boy!”

  Sam exited the plane next and Eggsy pounced on her as well.

  Both Sam and Devon were so busy coddling Eggsy they hadn’t even noticed Zander saunter up to them. “I see. It’s gonna be like this, is it, mates? Eggsy gets all the attention?”

  “Well he is Dev’s number one,” Sam teased scratching Eggsy under the chin while Devon let the massive gray wolfhound lick his face in a frenzy of affection.

  “What am I, chopped liver?” Zander joked. But just as he asked the question, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and a whir of black propelled itself straight toward him.

  Zander turned just in time to catch Megan as she launched herself into his arms, squealing like a toddler on Christmas morning.

  “Omigod! Omigod! I’m really here! It’s really you!” Megan proclaimed, burying her face in his neck and squeezing him tight. “This is the best day ever!”

  Zander couldn’t help but laugh and hug Megan back. Her excitement was infectious and in one quick movement, Zander lifted Megan off her feet in a bone-crushing hug. And good Christ if it wasn’t the best embrace he’d had in years. Zander cursed his soft heart for opening to her. It didn’t help that she smelled like whiskey and sunshine. Shite! He was in for it with this one. She put stars in his eyes and dreams in his wild heart.

  Regaining his composure, Zander quickly put Megan back on her feet. “Yer pint-sized, lass.”

  Megan grinned. “Don’t worry. The best things come in small packages.” She followed her comment with a sultry wink of her sparkling blue eyes. It caught the attention of Zander’s own package and the muscles in his jaw twitched as he fought the coiling tension within him.

  Megan seemed to hardly notice as she flounced past him toward the chopper. “Is this for us?”

  “Of course,” Zander replied snapping back to the present. “Nothing but the best for my mates.”

  “Wait? You expect me to get in a helicopter with you?” Sam asked.

  “Why not? Eggsy does it,” Zander replied.

  Devon laughed and took Sam’s hand, kissing the back of it. “Come on, love. It’ll be an adventure.”

  “I’m in!” Megan exclaimed skipping around the gleaming bird, her glorious curves bouncing in all the right places.

  Zander rubbed a hand across his mouth to hide his smirk. He had a hard time containing his composure as he watched Megan smile back at him, black hair blowing in the wind, blue eyes full of mischief. Screw playing it safe. That philosophy never got him anywhere good in life. Zander liked to gamble and he’d be a right fit wanker to pass up the opportunity to see where things could go with a girl like Megan. She was a firecracker, and Zander had always liked to play with fire.

  3

  Megan

  Megan hopped herself into the front seat of the helicopter next to Zander, while Sam, Devon and Eggsy got situated in the back.

  Megan was near bursting with excitement. “Do I get to help fly us?” she asked looking at the complex panel of instruments.

  “Not this time, doll face,” Zander replied, making her insides glow.

  Megan loved it when he used that nickname for her. She’d tried to call him doll face when they’d first started getting flirty but his response was, ‘it’s such a shame to waste a name like that on a bloke like me when yer the one with the face of an angel.’

  God, how could she not melt into a puddle of drool when Zander said things like that?

  Megan realized her mouth was open and she quickly snapped it shut. It was proving more difficult than she thought to play it cool around Zander. She’d always known he was ridiculously good-looking, but he was a real life Adonis! Without the safety net of her laptop screen and a million miles between them, Megan was floundering. She found her normally rapid speech failed in his presence. But considering how nervous she was around him, maybe that was a good thing. If she could find her voice, she’d probably profess her undying love or say she wanted to have his babies.

  “Ready to see Ireland?” Zander asked.

  Megan nodded, grinning like a Jack-o’-lantern.

  Zander reached over and helped her snap the five-point harness into place. She was certain the fire in her panties was going to set off the smoke alarms when his large hand reached between her thighs to test if the harness fit snugly.

  “Down, boy,” Devon yelled at Eggsy from the back seat.

  The ill-timed comment made Megan blush, and she thought she saw Zander smirk shamefully too.

  Zander turned his focus back to the chopper instruments, his mood strictly professional as he took them into the air. Megan was slightly disappointed that his hands were so occupied by flying the helicopter. Her voice might be failing her, but her body wasn’t. Every nerve tingled and itched to make contact with him again.

  Thank God for the five-point harness. It was the only thing keeping her from floating away in a bubble of lovesick bliss. She didn’t even care that the tight straps restricted the wild pounding of her heart.
She could have been plummeting to her death and she still wouldn’t have been able to wipe the grin from her face.

  Megan watched Zander’s strong hands expertly take control of the chopper and found herself desperately wishing she could trade places with the instrument panel. He caught her watching him and gave her a crooked smile as if reading her mind. She grinned back, letting go of any inhibitions she might have had at playing it cool with Zander. The man was a god and she wanted him—and she didn’t care if he knew it.

  Zander

  Zander banked over Dublin Bay and hugged the coast as he took the long way home. He pointed out sights to Megan, smiling as she oohed and aahed at the spectacular sunset that graced them. Zander couldn’t have planned it better. The weather was divine and Megan was clearly impressed with his flying skills. He’d caught her staring at him from under her thick dark lashes more than once.

  He loved the unabashed way she grinned at him and how she seemed to say exactly what came to her mind as she gazed out the windows of the chopper. Her child-like wonder was refreshing as she squealed and clapped with excitement when he swooped near the crashing waves or banked around castle ruins for a closer look.

  In honesty, seeing Ireland like this still took his breath away. Having the means to do things like this had opened Zander’s eyes to a trove of new experiences he’d never dreamt possible. Now all that was left was to find someone to share those dreams with. And as he looked over at Megan’s beaming face, fear gripped his heart, because he knew in that moment that he’d never been so close to what he wanted. It made him hope for a millisecond that maybe, just maybe, they could be more than a semester’s fling.

  4

  Megan

  Zander set the chopper down at a private hanger in Dalkey, where a shiny black Defender waited to take them to Finnegan’s.