I'm The Alpha's Challenge

27

Fear.

Usually people feared spiders, the dark, or falling. I was scared of being touched, of being taken advantage of. I was terrified of my father and Destiny. I'm not scared of what normal people are. I had always let fear rule my life. It was why I never stuck up for myself or fought back. Normal people didn't fear their friends or their crush. I was afraid of everything and anything, and I was terrified to let him kiss me.

But I wanted to. I wanted him to lean down an inch more and touch our lips together. But I was scared of what would follow. Would he stop the kiss, or keep going even if I didn't want to? Or would he let me have control?

I had no idea how to kiss someone. I had read a lot of books, but this was the real thing. It would be our first kiss when we hadn't even gone on a real date yet. But how do you learn when you never practice?

My chest was aching and my breathing never calmed. I had never had this feeling before. It hurt, but at the same time it made me feel good…an emotion that I had never really known. I hated that I loved it. I wouldn't mind feeling like this forever. And that meant being by Josh.

But I couldn't kiss him. I just couldn't. All my life fear chose the way. I couldn't just change all of a sudden. I can't. I couldn't. No, I just—I couldn't do it.

I opened my eyes to find him unmoving, his eyes closed, but his jaw tight. Strands of brown hair hung in his eyes. I could still feel his hot breath on my lips.

I found myself closing my eyes, taking a deep breath and standing on my tip toes. Our mouths crashed harder than I had expected, but nonetheless, I felt him smile as he pulled me closer by the waist. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing where to put my hands to what to do. He pulled away momentarily and took my wrists in his gently. My eyes widened as I stared up at him in shock. To my surprise, he led my fingers up towards his neck.

"Kiss me back." He breathed, his eyes flooding with emotion.

I blushed harder than I ever had. "I don't know how." I confessed, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He smiled, biting the corner of his lip slightly. "Try, baby." He replied, placing his hands on the small of my back and catching my mouth with his again.

Fear bubble up inside me as his mouth moved against mine. I was too embarrassed to do anything. What if I messed up? What if I wasn't a good kisser? What if he didn't like me anymore?

I was tired of being scared or worrying about the consequences whenever I did something. For once, I wanted to do something and not be worried later. His hands gripped my waist a little tighter and pushing me back a step at a time until my back hit the wall. I should've been scared; I should've been terrified that I was trapped between him and the wall. But his hands stayed where they were. His body pressed closer to mine, his tongue running across my bottom lip. He smiled when I did nothing. "Danny," he breathed. Imagining everything I had read in book, I parted my mouth slightly and curled my fingers in his hair, pulling slightly. He moaned as he kissed me again, exploring my mouth.

A knock suddenly sounded on the door. "Will you two lovebirds hurry up?! We need to see that dress on Danny!" Coffeeblue yelled from the other side of the dressing room.

Josh pulled away and groaned, leaning his forehead on mine. He scoffed, the corner of his lip lifting up in a smirk when he saw me trying to catch my breath. He lifted his head and pressed his lips to my forehead. "Alright, Coffeeblue!" he replied loudly, and sighed once more, burying his face into the crown of my hair.

Without warning, he pulled away, turned towards the door and slowly opened it up. Coffeeblue and Iya stood on the other side, Coffeeblue with her arms crossed, glaring at Josh and Iya giggling into the fabric in her hands. "Shut up." Josh said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Oh my goodness." Coffeeblue breathed, her mouth parted open as her eyes scanned the length of my body.

"Wow." Iya copied her voice and stopped giggling long enough to study me.

I stepped up to Josh slowly, red painting itself across my cheeks as he wrapped his fingers around mine. "It's perfect." He said, but somehow I got the idea that he wasn't talking about the dress. Fingering the rose on my hip, my hand brushed a card. Mindlessly, I glanced down at it, seeing the price. My eyes widened and I bit my lip. I didn't want him spending money on me, but I knew there was nothing I could do or say to make him change his mind.

"Definitely." The sisters agreed, and then shot each other a glare. I stepped back, wringing my fingers from Josh's and retreated back into the dressing room, the lock clicking soundly.

"Oh! Oh! I saw the best necklace that would go great with her dress!" Iya squealed, and I could almost see her dragging Coffeeblue out of the room.

"Danny, are you alright?" Josh called from the other side of the door.

I sighed, leaning my head against the door. "I don't want you to buy this dress." I confessed and bit my lip, dreading the answer I would get.

There was a pause, and I wasn't quite sure why. "Don't you like it?" he asked, confusion dripping in his voice.

"Of course! It's beautiful! I'm not used to people buying me things. I'm not used to trying things on and people telling me that I look good." I said, closing my eyes tightly.

"You look amazing no matter what you're in." he said, and I detected a hidden meaning in his words. He continued after I didn't answer. "Just don't worry about it, Danny. Iya and Coffeeblue will never let you live it down if you don't get that dress. It looks amazing, trust me."

"But—" I started.

He cut me off. "Danny." He said strictly, as if putting an end to the matter. "There's no problem with money."

"Alright." I sighed, deciding to drop it. I let my eyes scan around me, settling on the mirror. I don't know why they all thought I looked good in the dress, or why they would even think about buying me it with their own money. But now that I think about it, Josh's family was obviously very well off, but his father was a rancher, and I don't think his mother worked. There was obviously his aunt and uncle, but that doesn't mean they were help paying for mortgage and everything else. There was no way they could have as much money as they obviously do. They had to have another source of income.