Not Without You [Chris Evans]

*Prologue*

Late September 2017
Sadie's POV

I gave up attempting to make sense of my upcoming filming schedules without a large whiteboard in front of me. I'd agreed to read through several more scripts and there were a couple that I'd really love to do. The problem was that there was nowhere near enough space in my planner for all of the stuff I needed to put in it. I tossed down my pencil in disgust, much to Sebastian's amusement. He looked up from his phone at me as I sighed.

"Sebastian, I'm going to hire an assistant. I can't keep all these schedules straight anymore between my filming projects and the publicity tour for Infinity War."

"I told you that you needed one like six months ago," he said, smirking at me.

"Shut up, Stan. No one likes a gloater." I chucked a highlighter at him, which he caught easily and tossed back into the basket with the rest.

"Lucky for you, I put in a request for one already. You've got about a dozen applicants to interview tomorrow."

I looked at him in amazement. "How? When? Why?"

"Who – what – where?" he teased and I rolled my eyes.

"Sebastian – when were you going to tell me this?"

"No later than bedtime...or breakfast," he said, his eyes darkening with desire.

"Don't make me regret agreeing to stay at your place until Chris gets back. How were you planning on convincing me if I hadn't come to that decision on my own today?"

"I have a pretty good imagination, doll."

"I'm aware of that, Sebastian. Remind me again why I put up with you?"

"Sadie Wilson, I adore you," he said, pulling me to my feet and kissing me in a way that was probably illegal somewhere, making me weak in the knees.

"That was a pretty good reminder," I said, resting my face against his chest. "Care to keep reminding me?"

"Are you done playing with your papers?" he asked, kissing down my neck.

"I can be," I replied, willing to be distracted, my hands sliding under his shirt to play with his well defined muscles. I felt him smile before he rubbed his scruff against me and I shoved him away, hating it when he did that.

"Finish what you're doing first, doll."  He smirked, letting go of me to return to where he'd been sitting before. 

"Since when are you the responsible one?" I grumbled as I plopped back down with a sigh, stacking my piles neatly. "Did you really put an ad out for an assistant for me?"

"Yup. Josh and Mark have a bet going to see how long you were going to hold out on this since you refuse to let them do things for you."

I frowned at him. "They weren't hired to do things for me. I know that they will if I ask them nicely, but that isn't their job."

"Mackie owes me $100! I told him that's what you'd say!" Sebastian crowed, tapping at his phone with glee.

"Is the team in on it too? Apparently I'm more predictable than I thought," I muttered, picking up my mess and setting it on the coffee table, unwilling to deal with it any more today.

He looked down at me with a grin. "That's not a bad thing, doll. Us stupid males rely on that to keep us from fucking up too badly."

"Shoulda got that on film," I laughed, unable to keep a straight face.

Sebastian perked up, his lips curving in that crooked grin I loved. "Does that mean you'll do the interviews? Because lets face it – you don't want me picking someone to work with you day in and day out."

"You're right – I don't. There's a reason it was so hard to find someone to play Evie."

"I hadn't found you yet?"

"We'll go with that. I like that reason better," I said as I pulled him to his feet and kissed him.

"So you'll do the interviews?" he asked, stroking my face with one hand as he met my eyes.

"Yes, I'll do the interviews. God knows who you would have stuck me with if I let you and Chris do it."

"How did you know Chris said he'd help?"

I gave Sebastian a look. I knew my guys probably better than they knew themselves when it came to some things – and it helped I had two teenage boys that were younger versions of Chris and Sebastian that did almost everything together. "Do I look like I was born yesterday?"

"Nooo..." he said, trying to decide if that was a trick question.

"It's a good thing you're cute, babe," I said with a smile.

"So you're not mad at me?" he gave me the look my youngest son always tried to use on me.

"Not if I get to take a picture of that look," I said, giving him a devilish grin. "Katie didn't believe me when I told her you try to use it on me too."

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A/N: This book has already been integrated into Finding Forever. If you haven't already read that, you're going to be a bit lost as this is not a true stand-alone.

(If you already read Finding Forever and just wanted the concentrated Chris parts, here you go! )

Also, I will be permanently archiving this book after Finding Forever is all back up again - which will probably be around January 31, 2022 at my current rate. There is no need for this one since its contents are already included in Finding Forever.