Characters: Actor Chris Evans, OFC Kayla Brooks

Warnings: None, Fluff

Chapter 14

The sun glinted through the blinds and hit Kayla precisely above her cheekbones. She squinted her eyes closed which caused her head to throb more than she realized it had already been. She gingerly rolled to her side and opened one eye to look at the clock. SHIT. She was late for work. She sat straight up and immediately fell back to the bed, groaning loudly.

Chris came in the door carrying a large glass of orange juice and two aspirin. He spoke in a quiet soothing voice. “Hey babe. Do you remember I called in sick for you? Here take these.” She sat up and took the glass, swallowing the white pills. “How do you feel?”

Kayla shook her head in bewilderment. “How do you think I feel?” She put her hand to her forehead and lay back down. The previous night was a blur. She had been pissed at Chris for the paparazzi pictures. Jess brought home tequila and limes. By the time Chris got here she had forgotten to be mad at him. At some point she had made it to her bed, with or without his help, and assumed he had slept next to her although he was fully dressed now.

Chris lay on his side next to her and brushed her hair from her face. “I can’t stay long. Do you want anything to eat?” Kayla made a face. “I didn’t think so. Jess is still sleeping.” Kayla’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You don’t remember that I was going to call in sick for her too?” He chuckled softly and kissed her forehead. “I’m so sorry Kay.”

She smiled softly. It was the first time he had called her Kay. Jess was the only one who ever called her that and now Chris had adopted it too. She kinda liked that he felt that comfortable with her.

“I know you don’t feel well but we need to talk about this picture. The sooner we get our story straight the easier it will be.”

“And what exactly is our story?” She tried her best to focus on him but her head wouldn’t stop pounding.

“One, we can deny that we’re dating.” Kayla snorted but he ignored her and continued. “Two, we can make no comment.” She rolled her eyes at him. Clearly she didn’t like Hollywood. “Three, we can acknowledge that we’re dating.”

Her eyes flew open. “Are you nuts? We’ve been seeing each other less than three months. That is such a colossally bad idea.” Her head began to throb again and she covered her eyes with her arm.

“Why?” She peeked at him from under her arm. His face was serious, no silly grins, no lifted eyebrows, only a very thoughtful look on his face.

She opened her mouth to protest but nothing came out. Pursing her lips, she scrunched her face up and looked down at her lap, then to the walls. Chris could see she was thinking hard about this.

They heard Jess stirring in her room. “I’ll go get her some juice and aspirin. I’ll be right back.” Kayla smiled at his thoughtfulness. She knew he felt bad about their current state.

While he was gone she thought about what he said. He couldn’t really be serious about going public with their relationship. Could he? He was almost as private as she was when it came to the media. The only difference was he had to deal with them and she didn’t. And she wasn’t sure how to classify their relationship. They saw each other when they had time. They spoke on the phone and texted. But it wasn’t serious. Did he think it was?

When Chris returned Kayla immediately began her argument. “We can’t go public. It’s a stupid idea.” Before she could finish Chris chimed in.

“I agree.”

“You do?” Kayla sounded a little disappointed that he gave in so quickly without allowing her to make her case.

“It’s a lot of pressure to put on you. I know you don’t want to be in the spotlight. And I like to maintain a very private life too. If this got out we’d be chased everywhere. We probably still will to be honest. But at least we can try to deflect some of the attention.”

“And let’s face it Kay, this is still new. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with you. I can’t imagine not having you in my life.” Chris picked up her hand and stroked it, looking deeply into her green eyes. “But I’m afraid any pressure from the outside might scare you away. I don’t want that. But if you want to do something different I’ll do whatever you want.”

“No, that’s fine with me.” Kayla was relieved that Chris was willing to let her decide.

“It doesn’t change how I feel about you. I’m just not ready to share you with the world. I want you all for myself.” He gave her a wicked grin, testing the waters. She shook her head. “Not a chance in the world Evans. You’re amazingly hot and sexy, especially when you’re taking care of me but you’re not getting lucky this morning. Now, didn’t you say you couldn’t stay long?”

Chris laughed softly and kissed her. “I’ll let you off the hook only because I caused your hangover. But tonight is a different story my love. You better get lots of rest today because I intend to wear you out.”

“By the way, my mom is coming to town for the Avengers premiere. She can’t wait to meet you.”

He left the room and Kayla lay in the bed with a dreamy look on her face. She would never have believed she could have fallen so hard for a guy like Chris Evans. He was an enigma. He played the Hollywood game when he had to but in his heart he was just the guy next door who drank beer and hung out. Just a normal guy in t-shirt and jeans with no agenda. That was the Chris she was falling for. Hard and fast. Now she just had to worry about meeting Mama Evans.