Page 18 of Reserved for Him
“It’s okay. I knew something was up when you called me this late. You know you can be doing the same thing if you stop being scary. You know you want to.”
Knocking on Franklin’s door had crossed my mind, but I had better chances of going home. That man probably would look at me like I was crazy if I told him my grown ass was afraid of damn thunder.
“Lauren, I can’t. What if he turns me away?”
“And what if he doesn’t? Pull up your big girl panties and knock on that man’s door. Then let him knock your boots.” She cackled in my ear, and I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t know how that strange man deals with you.”
“Baby, when you got what I have between my legs, any man would put up with you. But I have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Smooches.” She hung up before I could even respond.
I put my phone on the bed and sat there. I thought about what she said, but I was even more scared of Franklin than I was of the storm. I was not scared that he would hurt me physically, but I didn’t want him to reject me. I wasn’t trying to have sex with him—I just didn’t want to be alone during the storm.
I bit the corner of my lip, contemplating going. The rain beat hard against the roof, and lightning shone through the window. I knew it was a matter of time before the thunder came again.
Boom!
I jumped up and ran next door to Franklin’s room, but when I got to the closed door, I hesitated. My heart thundered in my chest just as loud as the thunder outside. The hallway was dark except for a light that was on in the bathroom, but when that flickered, I almost lost it.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Franklin’s calm voice called through the door.
Slowly, I pushed the door open but stood in the doorway. He sat up against the headboard, watching television with his glasses on.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
That was stupid Junicia. The man is literally sitting up.
I was so damn nervous, I asked an obvious ass question.
He chuckled like he knew the inner dialogue I had with myself.
“Nah. You good?”
“Um. No-no. I’m scared of thunderstorms.”
His lips turned up into a smile.
“Come here.” The tone in his voice made my nipples harden.
I hesitated for a minute. At first, I was nervous about him rejecting me; now, I was scared about getting close to him. What the hell was wrong with me? I never got nervous around a guy, but for some reason, Franklin made me nervous. Maybe it was because I really didn’t know him or that he never showed interest in me before.
I wasn’t sure if I should close the door or not, but since it was closed when I entered, I closed it back. I hesitated and walked toward the bed, but when another loud boom of thunder came, I quickly moved to the bed.
Franklin moved over to give me room. I sat on the side of the bed.
“You can get in the bed, Junicia.”
I scooted back on the bed and sat against the headboard. The TV was on some movie I had never seen before, so I focused on that to distract myself from the nervousness in my belly.
I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. We were quiet for a little bit until I broke the silence.
“Thanks. Usually, I have my cousin with me, but she’s not around. If I were by myself, I would probably stay up all night, or at least until it passed.”
It didn’t seem like the storm was going to let up anytime soon. It sounded like it was getting worse.
“You’ve always been scared of them? What were you doing all this time? The storm has been going on for a minute.”
