by J. S. Cooper
That Guy
J.S. Cooper
That Guy is an exclusive extended excerpt from The Hookup (prequel).
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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2017 by J. S. Cooper
Prologue
Present Day
“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met,” he whispered into my ear as his fingers played in my hair. I curled up next to him as I stroked his chest. My fingers ran up to his face and I played with his beard before running my fingers across his lips. He almost purred at my touch and I smiled as I gazed at his handsome face.
“I love you, Janie. I love you.”
The words from his mouth were almost inaudible. If I hadn’t been staring at his face, I would have missed them. I almost did. I wasn’t even sure if I’d heard him correctly. I’d been about to tell him that I felt the same way and then, then he dropped the bombshell. A secret so big that I’d fallen back in shock, my heart racing. Everything had gone still in that moment. Everything in me had frozen.
“Janie. Speak to me.” He sat up, his blue eyes worried. “Janie?”
“Janie, are you daydreaming again?” Anabel’s voice interrupted my reverie. “What are you thinking about?”
“What I haven’t been able to stop thinking about for the last three weeks.” I sighed and closed my eyes as I rubbed my temple. “I never thought this would be my life.” I bit down on my lower lip as I contemplated the events in my life. How had I gotten to this crazy place?
All my life I’d been the girl who was in love with love. All my life I believed in fairytales and happily ever afters. I thought that you’d see a guy, fall for him head over heels and he’d feel the same way, and then you’d ride off into the sunset. I can’t remember how many times I imagined myself floating on cloud 9 with my dream guy.
How naive had I been?
I sighed as I opened my eyes and looked into Anabel’s worried ones.
“Janie, you have to make a decision. He’s left you a letter.” Anabel handed me an envelope, and I took it from her gingerly. “You have to let him know what you’re thinking.”
“I know.” I sighed. “I’m scared to read his letter.” I looked down at his neat handwriting and sighed. “I’m scared to read what he has to say. What other news does he want to share with me?”
“It’ll be okay.” She smiled at me warmly. “Trust me.”
“When did life get so hard?” I sat down on her leather couch and curled up my legs. “I remember when I was an immature girl who was in love with love. I had no idea what love was really like.”
“I remember that girl,” Anabel laughed. “I loved her, but I’m glad you grew up.”
“I’m not sure I’m glad.” I laughed at her. “It was nice being young and naive. It was nice thinking that anything was possible.”
“But that wasn’t reality,” Anabel said. “And you got us into way too many crazy situations.”
“Well, I guess I’m paying for my immaturity now,” I moaned. “Reality is hard.” I ripped open the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of crisp white linen paper. It was completely filled with his words and I swallowed hard as I stared at the first line.
To my dearest Janie.
His dearest Janie? Ugh. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. How the hell was I going to make a decision? How the hell was I supposed to get over what he’d told me? How the hell had I gotten myself into such a mess? If I would have known seven years ago that that day would have bring me to this place, I’m not sure I ever would have ventured into the library.
PART I
Chapter One
Janie
Seven years ago in college
“Oh my God, oh my God, he is the hottest guy that I have ever seen in my life! And I mean, hands down, the hottest!” The words tripped out of my mouth as I talked excitedly about the dreamboat I’d just seen. “I think he might just be my future husband.”
“Janie, you say that about every guy.” Anabel laughed at me as she played with her light brown hair. “And most of them aren’t even hot.” She made a face at me, and I found it hard not to laugh at the goofy look on her pretty face.
“Trust me, this guy is so hot he could burn the sun,” I exclaimed as I tried to convince my best friend that this time I meant it. I really had just met the most gorgeous man in the world.
“Uh huh.” Anabel looked back down at her textbook as I continued to ramble on about the guy I’d just seen in the library.
“I think I’m in love.” I sighed dramatically, needing her to understand just how magical the moment had been. I still had butterflies in my stomach from the first moment I’d seen him. I could still remember how my heart had skipped a beat as soon as I’d laid eyes on him.
“Again?” Anabel sounded exasperated.
“This time it’s for real.” I laughed as I collapsed down on her bed and closed my eyes so that I could picture the hot guy I’d just seen in my head. “He looked like a Greek god—Zeus or Apollo.”
“Are they Greek or Roman?” Anabel giggled and my eyes popped open. This time Anabel was looking at me with a wry smile.
“Uhm, Greek, duh.” I laughed, though I wasn’t really sure.
“So what’s this Greek god’s name?”
“Nate.” I grinned at her dreamily. “He’s tall, like maybe 6 foot, he has dark blond hair, sky-blue eyes that make me think of tropical island beaches and…”
“Let me guess,” Anabel interrupted me. “He has a golden tan, perfect white teeth, the best body you’ve ever seen, and oodles of cash.”
“Actually, no.” I laughed. “He has crooked teeth—well, slightly crooked. And he’s only a little tan, and I don’t know if he has any money. We are in college, you know. I don’t know many billionaire college boys.”
“Well, he sure doesn’t sound like a perfect Adonis.”
“That’s what makes him even more perfect,” I rushed out. “He’s perfect for me because I love him even though he’s not perfect.”
“Janie, how can you love him? You just met him.”
“Sometimes you just know.” I winked at her. “I have a good feeling about him.”
“So how did you meet him?”
“We didn’t actually meet,” I admitted slowly.
“So how do you know his name?” Anabel looked at me suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you went through his wallet.”
“Of course not. I would never do that.” I paused. “Well, I would never do that again. I was drunk that night, and I didn’t really know what I was doing.”
“Not a good excuse, Janie.” Anabel shook her head. “That guy almost called the police, he thought you were trying to steal his identity.”
“He was an idiot.” I rolled my eyes. “I was looking for his driver's license, not his credit cards. I just wanted to know his name and date of birth, so I could figure out his star sign and see if we were compatible.”
“You’d only just met him.” It was Anabel’s time to roll her eyes. “Yet you thought he could have been the love of your life as well.”
“I was young and dumb.”
“That was three months ago, Janie.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” I shook my head. “Trust me, this guy—Nate—he really is the love of my life.”
“Janie, you’re boy crazy. You really need to stop worrying about boys and focus on classes. We have midterms next week.”
“I know, I know. Why do you think I was at the library?”
“To ch
eck out guys?”
“No.” I made a face at her. “I was there to study…” I started giggling. “But then I saw Nate, and well, you know.”
“How do you know his name, by the way?”
“Oh, some girl ran up to him.” I made a face. “She was so eager, throwing her arms around him and stuff. She was like Oh, Nate, so good to see you! Yuck.”
“Are you sure that wasn’t his girlfriend?”
“Trust me, it wasn’t,” I responded quickly. Nate hadn’t held her as if she were his girlfriend. Not at all.
“Okay,” Anabel sighed and then shook her head. “Well, good luck with Nate. I need to study now.”
“But I need your help,” I whined. “You can’t study.”
“What do you mean, you need my help?” She looked up at me once again. “You need my help for what?”
“I need your help to find him.” I gave her my most innocent and sweetest look.
“How the hell am I meant to help you find him? I’ve never met him, never seen him, and all you know is that his name is Nate.” Anabel shook her head. “You’re crazy, Janie.”
“I know his name is Nate—and I also know something else.”
“Oh?” She cocked her head to the side and gave me a look. “Continue.”
“He’s in a chess club.”
“Huh?” She frowned. “A chess club?”
“Yeah,” I nodded excitedly. “The skank asked him how chess club was going.”
“Janie, you can’t just go around calling girls skanks.” Anabel shook her head. “That’s not—”
“Not now, Anabel,” I cut her off. “I looked online, and they have a chess club meetup tonight. We should go.”
“Can’t you go alone?” She made a face. “I don’t even know how to play chess.”
“Well, neither do I.” I sighed. “That’s why I need your help. I have an idea.”
“Oh, God.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to be a part of one your crazy schemes.” She thinned her lips. “No thanks.”
“Pleeeeease?” I whined. “I really, really need your help.”
“Janie!” She sighed. “Really? Why don’t you just wait and see what happens? Maybe you’ll meet him organically.”
“Anabel, this could be the love of my life. I could be Mrs. Nate.”
“Mrs. Nate, huh?” She snorted. “You don’t even know his last name.”
“Don’t be a spoilsport, please.” I made a face at her. “Trust me when I say that I think this guy is the one. I just felt something in my bones when I saw him. And…guess what?”
“What, Janie? He asked you to marry him?”
“Don’t be silly.” I jumped up. “He looked at me and gave me a sweet smile for a few seconds, and I swear to God that I felt a visceral reaction in my body. Just from looking into his eyes. I’m not even joking.”
“Janie, I swear to God that you act like you’re in high school.” Anabel sighed as she looked at me staring down at her with my best puppy dog eyes.
“I’m telling you. I really felt it. I think he could be the one.”
“There is no one.” Anabel shook her head. “You need to get that thought out of your head.”
“You know that I believe in the one, a soulmate, a perfect match …”
“You don’t even know this dude.”
“Please, Anabel.” I changed the subject as I knew she wouldn’t understand. “It’s hard to explain, but from the first moment that I saw him, I just felt something special. I really think that he could be it.”
“Uh huh, this guy you saw for all of five seconds.” Anabel threw her hands up in the air and shook her head vehemently. Her blonde tresses swung back and forth. “I know I’m going to regret this, but because I’m a good friend, your best friend, I will come. But if you do or say anything stupid, I’m leaving.”
“Yay, I love you!” I bent down and hugged her. “You’re the best.”
“I know I am.” She sighed. “I hope I don’t regret this.”
“You won’t.” I grinned happily. “When you’re the maid of honor at the wedding, you can say, ‘I remember when they first met.’”
“Uh huh.” Anabel shook her head and then started laughing. “I’d be saying a lot more than that.”
***
“Hi, welcome to the chess club. Is this your first time here?” A tall nerdy guy walked up to Anabel and me, looking especially pleased and eager to see us.
“Yeah.” I smiled at him warmly as I looked around the small classroom. Where was Nate? “But we really love chess.”
“Awesome.” He grinned even wider. “Welcome, my name’s Will, and I’m the president of the club.”
“Nice to meet you, Will. I’m Janie and this is my best friend Anabel.” I pointed over to Anabel. “We’re so excited to be here.”
“How long have you guys been playing?” He started talking rapidly. “Maybe you can join our team for the national tournament.”
“Well, uh…” I stumbled over my words as I stared at his eager face. Oh shit, what was I going to say now?
“We’d love that.” Anabel said evilly. “When’s the next competition?” She gave a sweet smile. “I might not be able to make it as I have a fairly busy schedule, but Janie here could most probably go. And she’s like, a chess grandmaster, so with her on your team, you are very likely to win.”
“Wow, you’re that good, huh?”
“Yeah,” I said weakly. “Some people call me Grandmaster Janie Kasparov.”
“Oh, is that your last name?” He asked me curiously.
“No.” I shook my head. “Wasn’t that that chess master’s name, Garry Kasparov?” I frowned as I thought. “Or maybe it was Gray Sarsaparilla? Kasporilla? Gorilla?” I paused as I noticed Will’s puzzled face.
“What’s that about a gorilla, then?” A deep voice sounded from behind me and I turned around. My heart immediately started beating rapidly as I looked into the deep blue eyes that were staring at me. It was Nate. In the flesh. My skin warmed at the sight of him. He was perfection in human form.
“Sorry, what?” I said as I looked at him.
“You were just talking about gorillas?”
“Oh, haha.” I smiled at him. “It was nothing important. I’m Janie, by the way.” I held my hand out and waited to feel his fingers on mine.
“Nice to meet you, Janie,” he said as he shook my hand warmly. A frisson of excitement ran through me at his touch. “I’m Nathan, though my friends call me Nate. I’m the vice-president of the chess club.”
“Wow, that’s awesome. Vice-president. Very impressive.” I beamed at him as I fluttered my lashes up at him. This couldn’t have been going any more perfectly.
“And what’s your name?” He turned to Anabel with the same friendly smile and I felt my stomach drop slightly. He seemed just as excited to be talking to her as he had to be talking to me. But I knew I shouldn’t feel too discouraged. Guys were often a lot slower than girls when it came to love.
“Anabel.”
“So you girls play chess?”
“Something like that.” Anabel said in a muffled tone as she gave me a wry look. “Janie’s the real master. I’m still a beginner.”
“Don’t be modest, Anabel.” I glared at her. She was taking it too far. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was so good that they actually wanted to play with me. “I’m hardly better than you, seeing as you were the one who taught me how to play.” I smiled innocently at her. “So, Nate, I assume you must be an amazing player?”
“I’m okay.” He shrugged, and I watched as he ran his hands through his slightly too long hair. Oh, how I wanted to reach over and run my hands through his tousled locks as well. “Do you guys want to play?” He nodded towards some tables at the front of the room. There were three chessboards set up and two very nerdy guys sitting there, already playing a game. “Will and I can play you guys.” He nodded towards Will, who was still standing there, looking at us like we were gifts under his Christmas
tree that he couldn’t wait to unwrap.
“Oh, I think Anabel and I wanted to play each other today,” I said quickly. “We wanted to have a rematch because our last game was very contentious.”
“Oh?” Nate looked at me curiously. “How so?”
“Oh, well, we played for ten hours and then came to checkmate and it was, uhm, quite unexpected.”
“Oh?” He tilted his head, a puzzled look on his face.
“Yeah, uhm, my king was in a battle with some pawns. Back and forth, back and forth.”
“Huh?” He blinked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to process what I’d just said.
“Joke, joke.” I pretended to laugh instead of trying to clarify what I’d been saying. I had no idea how to play chess and that was going to become very apparent any second now. “So, what are you studying?” I said quickly. “Are you a sophomore as well?”
“Engineering.” He laughed. “And no, I’m a senior. You guys are sophomores?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “And wow, engineering. You must be so smart.”
“You’ve already told him that,” Anabel said, and I shot her a death look.
“Well, vice president of the chess club and an engineering major says he must be pretty smart.”
“Yeah, I bet you’re a regular Einstein, aren’t you, Nathan?” Anabel said as she rolled her eyes.
“Not quite.” Nate looked a little confused as he stood there. “But thanks for the vote of confidence. Shall we go over and play?”
“Sure.” I nodded quickly. This was starting to go south already. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought Anabel with me after all. Sometimes her snarky personality was too much to take. And she certainly wasn’t helping to make me look good in front of Nate. Even though she knew there was a high possibility that he was the love of my life. “Lead the way.”
“Will do.” He smiled at me and walked over to the tables. I stared at his legs and his ass as he walked and I heard Anabel start to laugh as we stood there.
“What?” I hissed as I looked at her. “What’s so funny?”