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We were only two feet from the porch steps.

“No really. I’m okay,” I said and began to rotate back to my determined path, escape firmly planted in my goals.

But he caught my arm. “Wait.” Encouraging me back around, he smiled as if he knew exactly what I was trying to do and it only amused him. “I hope you had a good time tonight.”

Mistakenly thinking he wanted to talk a moment before he tried to plant a wet one, I opened my mouth to give the polite, mandatory response, but he swooped down and caught me off guard.

There was no five-second lag this time around. I pulled back instantly and even smacked at his hand that had already found my hip.

He gave an innocent blink. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re rushing,” I said from between gritted teeth.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I just…” Then he smiled and leaned back in again toward me. “You just make me want more.”

Dipping his head, he came in fast to lay another one on me.

Already pulling my face away for the second time and raising my hand to manually shove his face back, I nearly wept with relief when the porch lights flashed on and the front door opened.

Barry began to shuffle outside, wearing a sweat suit and white socks, but he stopped short when he lifted his face and saw us, me nearly breaking my spine as I leaned backward away from Todd and Todd arched over on top of me, his neck craned out and lips still puckered.

Eyes widening—with a bit too much fake surprise—Barry pulled back. “Oh, it’s just you, Grace. I’m sorry; I didn’t know you were coming home so early. I could’ve picked you up.”

Since Todd respectfully straightened and stepped a space away from me in Barry’s presence, I straightened too, smoothing down my coat and then my hair.

“You weren’t home when I called.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Your mom was called in to work tonight, so I ran out and rented a movie. Hey, you want to watch it with me?”

My immediate response was, “Sure.” Whirling toward Todd, I said goodbye, totally dismissing him.

He glanced at Barry as if he hoped my stepfather would scurry back into the house, leaving him with one more opportunity to grope me. Bless Barry for this, but he stayed rooted in the opened doorway—probably letting all kinds of cold air into the house—and offered Todd a cheerful grin along with a wave as he said, “G’night, son.”

As Todd bowed his head and slumped back to his car, Barry stepped the rest of the way onto the porch as I climbed the stairs to meet him.

“Thank you,” I said, meaning it from the bottom of my heart.

He smiled, and this time it wasn’t fake. “No problem.”

Todd’s Jeep started. Barry glanced over my shoulder as he held the door open for me. “Who was that?”

“Todd,” was all I said.

“Hmm.” Coming in behind him, Barry paused to wipe his socks on the welcome mat. “So, you don’t like this Todd guy, or what?”

I shrugged. “He’s okay.”

No way was I going to discuss this subject with my stepfather who I’d only known for a few months, but he looked at me and I felt compelled to explain. “He just likes me more than I’m ready for right now.”

Barry nodded. “Ah, yes, teenage boys have no subtly in showing their…affections.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered and rolled my eyes.

Laughing, Barry slung his arm over my shoulder and led me toward the living room where the movie he’d rented was still playing the opening credits. “As long as he hasn’t tried more than a couple kisses, I guess I’ll let him live.”

For some reason, his comment caught me off guard. Since I was still rusty at the whole having-a-father-thing, I doubted the inner voice in my head that screamed warning, warning, not appropriate behavior.

It felt very odd to me, though, that kisses were okay in Barry’s book but anything more was grounds for termination. From the sitcoms I’d seen, Dads usually starting cleaning their guns even before a boy touched their baby girl. Barry, on the other hand, sounded—I don’t know—more jealous instead of fatherly.