This Is Us

Chapter 21

Chris POV

I was already stunned by this woman from the first time I met her. AnnaBelle is a strange mix of jaded and purity that I can't even begin to describe even if someone held a gun to my head. She's everything that I could possibly imagine a wonderful mother to be.

But getting to see her in a realm in which she lets herself just be, releasing her worries and living in a moment that allows her to know her son is just fine? That's a side I've not gotten to see, until now.

And damn do I like what I'm seeing.

"Need me to get it for you?" she asks behind a tight smile.

"What I need is for ya to shut ya mouth," I tease, feeling myself sinking further into a nice comfort with her. It's been nice to be away from all the things in my life that refer to me as the actor Chris Evans. Here with AnnaBelle or with Walker, I'm just Chris, even if the little boy refers to me as Cap.

I wouldn't change that for anything.

AnnaBelle's next words throw me a curve ball, completely unexpected. "Or what? You aint gonna do anything," she says, sauntering over to me in an innocent way and yet my eyes are looking over in such a way that is anything but innocent. If someone read my mind right now, I'd probably be in a world of trouble.

"Is that a challenge?"

She's holding back a smile when her nose crinkles. "I don't know. Can you accept a challenge without talking to your wing man?"

Walker certainly played my wing man well this morning at his birthday party. I hadn't quite planned on asking for his permission to take his mom out, but knowing how much he means to her and she to him, it had to be done. "What would Walker say?" I ask aloud, just going right along with her little scheme. "I gotta think he'd say yes, AnnaBelle."

"Do you really believe that? Or is it just because he doesn't say the word no?"

I fight the urge to brush her hair back off of her shoulder, the soft locks begging to be tousled. Instead I flex my hand a bit by my side and hope it comes off as normal. The smile hidden in her eyes makes me want to stare into them for hours just to see if I can learn the secrets that make her who she is.

"I think he likes me too much to say no," I tell her, moving closer to her once more. "Especially when it comes to the most important person in his life."

Something passes behind her eyes and her throat bobs from a swallow. "So, are you taking the challenge then?"

I'd take on any challenge that might end with this woman smiling at me, hugging me or even letting me hold her hand for another half second. Where exactly AnnaBelle Baxter has come from is a grand mystery that I don't want to question for fear of it all being a dream.

"What do I get if I make this split?" I'm not brave with her just yet to completely call the shots. I don't know everything about her, in all honesty I know very little. Could I toss out something outrageous of my own and see how far she'd take the bait? Sure. Am I going to? Highly doubtful.

And then she goes and pops it back in my corner. "What do you want?"

There's a deep hum filling my chest as I think of all the things I want when it comes to a woman I barely know. I could easily ask for something monumental, get mine and walk away. And to say I'd have done it with someone random would be an understatement.

This woman wasn't a random one night fling. I don't know what exactly there could be between the two of us, but I knew whatever it was would need to go slowly. And there was just one way for that to happen and yet still feed the tiniest of my desires.