Stepping Up

By: Karyn Rose, Kian Rhodes

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

**NOT Taboo, Stepdad/son, or incest. Traditional MM Romance*** Chance pulled his truck to a stop in front of the modest one-story brick building and raised a brow before swiping his thumb over the screen of his cell phone to double check the address. There had to be a mistake. Nope. 17432 Cherry Road SW. He was in the right place. Well. He was at the right address, anyway. He wasn't quite sure that a neighborhood church hosting a kid's event could be the right place for a forty-something, agnostic, gay man wearing - he looked down at his attire with a snort - an open leather vest over his bare chest. Matching leather pants. Well-worn leather motorcycle boots. All carefully chosen for what he had thought was going to be a quickie spank-and-screw with the latest twink to hit him up online. Hell. He looked back at the open double doors next to the colorful sign that read Sunshine Scouts Candy Sale Award Ceremony! and groaned. He swiped the message open and started to compose a message to his playmate – after all, he was not dressed for a family event. Even for one that wasn't in the community room of a church, which this one seemed to be – but before he could cancel, the icon lit up with a new contact notification. Daddy? It's almost my turn. Aren't you coming? Chance frowned. When he'd received the unexpected last-minute hookup invitation in his message box, Chance hadn't exactly jumped at the opportunity. Shaking his head, he decided he was already there so he might as well man up. One-offs in a freaking church might not be what he'd really been looking for, but it would be pretty chicken shit of him to bail just because he hadn't asked enough questions before agreeing to meet. Just parking, he thumbed back. Be right in. Fishing around under the front seat, he found a t-shirt that he vaguely remembered having crammed under there after another less-than-exciting hook-up a few months before. Shaking it out, he shrugged. It was wrinkled, but the royal blue knit managed to hide any dirt it had picked up. Tossing his vest to the passenger seat, he tugged it over his head, barely registering that it clung to his chest and biceps more than he remembered, stuffed his phone into the pocket of his leather pants, and headed for the doors. "Daddy!" Chance froze as a young girl launched herself into his arms. She was small but wiry, with fire-engine red hair fighting to escape a haphazard braid and brilliant green eyes. His arms flexed reflexively, catching her as she impacted his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, nearly cutting off his oxygen. "You came!" Completely astonished, he couldn't help but chuckle as she choked him. Kid was stronger than she looked. "Do I know you?" Chance murmured quietly, entirely too aware that everyone in the room had turned to stare. "Yes!" the little firebrand pouted. "I'm Kelly! You said you'd be my Daddy now." Uh oh. "I see." Chance tried to look casual as he studied the room, waiting for someone to react to their kid jumping up on a stranger. Surprisingly, no one did. "You don't have a dad?" "Of course I do," she huffed like it was the silliest question that she'd ever heard. "But only one and he won't go camping." Her eyes clouded a bit. "My other dad left and if I don't have a camping dad, I won't win my candy sales prize." Her lower lip trembled slightly. "I worked really, really hard for it, so that's why I picked you." Right. Camping was listed at the top of his interests on his dating profile. Two or three items above Dom Top. Oh, jeez. The situation was clearing up, but Chance was still at a loss. Somehow this little girl had found her way to the Looking 4 Daddy website and, dear God, the twink he'd expected to meet for a little slap and tickle was an actual child who wanted a dad to take her camping? He couldn't quite picture a more ridiculous scenario and, given his last relationship, that was saying something.....