AN: Hello everyone ~ Thank you to all of you who read, reviewed and tagged my new story! Here's chapter one, the mystery man is finally revealed and I hope you all stick with me! These two are in for one hilariously bumpy ride!
Huge thanks to Mina Mariuxita Rivera, Miss MoMo, Twilightsonefan Pattinson, Black Hale and Jen Roxanne for helping me with pre-reading and betaing. You ladies fucking ROCK!
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, I just like playing with them!
Denying Passion ~ Chapter One
"You two are the best I've got, therefore you're going to put your differences aside and show Eclipse why they hired this firm," Mrs. Masen stated as she leaned back in her chair, her fingers gripping her coffee mug in an attempt to not hurtle it at the two people in front of her.
How could this be happening? Bella silently screamed. She couldn't believe that after five years of sacrificing her personal life to make herself the best event planner at Masen Events, she was being downgraded to work with a total imbecile. She glanced to her right through narrowed eyes and saw her worst nightmare come true. A cocky, 31 year old playboy who thought he was God's gift to well… everything. He caught her eye, smirked and winked. Fucking cocky bastard.
"Like it or not, you two are a team now," Mrs. Masen concluded when she noticed their exchange.
Bella looked back at her boss with pleading eyes. She was about to beg Mrs. Masen to change her mind when the devil incarnate spoke.
"No problem, Mrs. Masen," he quipped. His voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Bella, making her skin crawl. "That is, unless Isabella objects."
Bella's head snapped back in his direction and her eyes narrowed into slits before she took a deep breath, and turned back to her boss. "No objections on my part," she answered in a sweet, girl next door voice. "I'm sure Carlisle and I will make you proud."
"Excellent, now start planning." Mrs. Masen waved her perfectly manicured hand dismissively.
Bella stood to leave and felt Carlisle's hand press to the small of her back, guiding her out of the room. She waited until they were safely outside of Mrs. Masen's office before she elbowed him in the stomach, causing Carlisle to humph.
"Get your filthy hands off me," she seethed.
Instead of recoiling from her, Carlisle slipped his hand further around her waist and angled his face so his lips almost brushed her ear. "Not on your life, Pop Tart. Like it or not, you're stuck with me now, and I'm planning on making the next month of your life a living hell." He took a deep breath and inhaled her sweet scent of lilac and vanilla. Carlisle released his hold and headed down the hallway towards his office. "My assistant will contact yours to work out our schedule," he called over his shoulder.
What the fuck was that? Did he just sniff me? Fucking bastard, Bella thought.
"No way! No fucking way," Bella growled under her breath as she swiftly made her way towards her office. She wouldn't do it, there was no way in hell she would work with that man.
"How'd it go, Ms Swan?" her over-perky assistant, Jessica, asked, she was met with a glare as Bella stomped past her and into her office. "That bad?"
Bella sank into her leather chair and pulled the clip from her hair, letting it cascade loosely to her shoulders. She spent a moment massaging her sore scalp before looking up at Jessica, who was leaning against the doorjamb hugging her clipboard to her chest, a curious expression on her face.
"What happened?" Jessica asked quietly.
Bella motioned her in, and being the fuck-awesome assistant she was, Jessica closed the door and promptly sat down, resting her clipboard on her thighs.
After sighing and running her fingers through her hair one more time, Bella said, "The good news is that we have a new major event to plan, Eclipse has just hired us to coordinate the party of the year to celebrate their new lingerie line: The Everyday Woman."
Jessica squealed. "Eclipse, seriously? They make the sexiest lingerie ever."
Bella held up her hand to stop Jessica's prattling. "I know. That's why I said it was the good news."
"So, what's the bad news?"
"Mrs. Masen has assigned me to work with Carlisle." His name came out as a snarl.
Jessica's clipboard fell to the floor with a small thud as she gasped. "No way."
"Yes," Bella hissed in frustration. "It would seem that karma is a fucking bitch."
Jessica tried hard to suppress the laugh that begged to burst out, she quickly reached down and grabbed her clipboard and hid her face behind it.
Bella wasn't fooled. "What about this is funny?" she asked through gritted teeth.
A giggle escaped Jessica. "It's just that you and Mr. Cullen don't get along, at all. You fight and bicker, it'll be interesting to see how you two work together," she said while letting a small snort escape her.
"Get out, Jessica," Bella growled.
DP ~ * ~ DP
Carlisle slowly made his way back to his office, his thoughts wildly churning over the morning's events. He grinned when he remembered that he was going to be able to mercilessly tease and harass Isabella for the next month. It was a short amount of time to get the event put together, but if they put in a lot of hours they'd succeed. He had no doubts about it.
Carlisle strode to his office and stopped at his assistant, Lauren's desk, she was filing her nails. "Lauren, can you do some actual work, please? You aren't paid to do whatever in the hell your doing."
Lauren shrugged and dropped her nail file in her desk drawer. "Happy?" she asked while batting her eyelashes in a way that was meant to be flirty, but ended up looking like she had something in her eye.
"Immensely." He took a deep breath to calm his rising frustration with her. "Now, please call Isabella's assistant, and schedule large blocks of her time so we can get everything planned for this new event. We've only got a month, so make sure we take as much of her free time she has available."
Carlisle walked into his quiet office and sank into his chair. What a cluster-fuck of a morning. He'd never imagined Mrs. Masen assigning him and Isabella to work together. They'd always competed against each other, whose event was the largest, who got the most ohs and ahs from the guests and whose party went off without a hitch. All they'd ever done was compete, which was most likely why they'd grown to dislike each other so much.
Deciding he needed a jolt of caffeine, Carlisle grabbed his wallet from the inside pocket of his charcoal gray pea-coat hanging on the back of his chair and headed down to the coffee cart located in the corner of the lobby.
As he stepped off the elevator he noticed Isabella talking animatedly with the barista, he smiled and admired her backside as he slowly strolled towards her. He noticed the curves of her body showcased in the cream cashmere wrap sweater and the navy blue pinstripe trousers. Her hair was pulled up which accentuated the length of her neck. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Fancy meeting you here, Pop Tart."
Bella shivered as Carlisle's breath wafted across the back of her neck, she was confused by her body's reaction to him. She hated him and he annoyed the hell out of her, so why was her body reacting as though they were intimate lovers? Determined not let him ruin her day she whirled around, the end of her sleeked back pony tail smacked him across the face. "Are you stalking me?" she demanded, her eyes glaring.
Carlisle chuckled. "You sure are conceited, not everything revolves around you, Isabella," he quipped, trying to hold back his grin.
"Fuck off, Sparky McGee." She grabbed the coffee from the outstretched hand of the barista, stepped around Carlisle and headed towards the elevator.
Forgetting about ordering his own coffee, Carlisle quickly followed her, catching hold of her elbow as she stepped into the elevator. As soon as the doors shut, Carlisle backed her into the corner, his hands braced on either side of her body, trapping her.
"Face it, you'll need a man's opinion, Isabella. I've taken off more lingerie than you can imagine," he smirked.
Bella leaned into him; her mouth inching closer to his, he licked his lips and leaned in close. "You are a fucking pig," Bella seethed as the elevator dinged and the doors opened, she pushed her hands roughly against his chest and stomped to her office.
DP ~ * ~ DP
When Bella made it home that night she was exhausted. After dropping her handbag and keys on the table in the entryway of her condo she headed down the hallway, guided only by the glowing light of the flat screen TV mounted on the living room wall. She stepped into the living room and chuckled when she saw her best friend and roommate, Rosalie sleeping on the couch.
Bella glanced at the TV screen and noted that Say Yes to the Dress was on, she chuckled. Rose was obsessed with weddings. For the past year she had been leaving some not-so-subtle hints for her long-time boyfriend, Emmett. Rose wanted so badly to marry him.
Little did Rose know that Emmett had already bought Rose's engagement ring. A 2 carat, princess cut solitaire in a platinum setting. Emmett had shown it to Bella the same day he'd purchased it, and she had to admit she was very impressed, he knew Rosalie well.
Bella continued to her room and changed into her favorite pair of black sweatpants, a long sleeve blue shirt, since it was chilly, she pulled on a pair of knee high socks. She padded into the kitchen, grabbed the bottle of vodka from the freezer, two shot glasses and plunked down on the couch next to Rose, who was still sleeping. Bella poured them both a shot, she downed hers quickly before she whacked Rose's leg to wake her up.
"Night, night time," Rose slurred.
"Wake the hell up. I need to talk about my shitty day."
"No." Rose snuggled further into the couch.
"Yes, I brought drinks. Wakey, wakey," Bella sang as she waved the bottle of vodka.
Rose huffed as she stretched and sat up. "Fine, but you owe me."
Bella handed her a shot and poured herself another while she explained her day from hell.
Rose sat back and listened to Bella's story. They like each other, she quipped silently to herself as Bella continued going on about Carlisle this and Carlisle that. It seemed that they were both blind to the fact that they liked each other. It was definitely going to be an interesting few weeks.
When Bella told her what Carlisle's nickname for her was, Rose chocked on her shot. "Pop Tart? What the hell kind of nickname is that?" she asked, laughing.
Bella sighed. "I haven't a fucking clue, Rose. He's driving me crazy."
"Crazy how?" Rose quirked an eyebrow.
Bella thought for a moment. "I don't know, I can't explain it."
Rose could tell Bella couldn't quite make out her true feelings for Carlisle, but Rose could see it clear as glass. "Okay, here's what you're gonna do. You need to show him you're in charge, prove that you're the one who wears the pants in this relationship. Got it?"
"How do I do that?" Bella asked as she curled up on the couch, her eyes growing heavy.
"Don't give in to his pouty, puppy dog face. Take charge and show him that what you say is final and if he doesn't like it, he can go fuck himself."
Bella closed her eyes, drifting off in an exhausted sleep. "Okay, Rosie."
DP ~ * ~ DP
"Come on, Pop Tart, we need to get started on this. That is, unless you want me to go directly to Masen and tell her you won't cooperate with me," Carlisle said in a sweet tone, giving her an innocent and dazzling smile.
It was their first official meeting to discuss event planning tactics. Their inspiration, a rolling rack of lingerie, stood in the corner of the conference room, Carlisle's eyes kept moving between Isabella and the skimpy garments. The rack was full of cami's, robes, thongs, cheeky boy-cut undies and bras.
Bella's head snapped up and she glared at him. "You seriously are a fucking bastard. How dare you threaten me to go to Masen."
Score one point for Cullen, he thought cockily as she stomped over to the lingerie rack and started rifling through it.
"Are you going to be my model?" He chuckled. He couldn't help that his mind started reeling with images of Isabella wearing any of those garments, or even what she'd look like without anything on at all. Wow, Cullen, back the fucking train up. You do not want nor need to think about this bitchy woman wearing barely-there clothes. He was fortunately or unfortunately pulled from his thoughts by Isabella herself.
"In your dreams, Sparky McGee, in your fucking dreams."
Carlisle chuckled. In my dreams indeed.
DP ~ * ~ DP
"No," he growled.
Bella shivered, goose-bumps erupted along her body, her first initial and rational explanation was that there must have been a draft. "I said yes. You need to get it through that thick fucking skull of yours. We're doing this my way and that's final."
He leaned over the conference table, his hands rested against the polished wood. "No."
Bella huffed with annoyance; she'd had it up to her eyeballs with his attitude. "You know what? You need to stop being such a pig-headed bastard and do this my way. I've been here longer and have more seniority. We have only three and a half weeks to pull this off and bickering like two little school girls is not going to get us anywhere."
"Seniority? Please, you were hired two days before I was. Cut the bullshit and don't call me a fucking school girl."
"If the shoe fits," Bella smirked with a one shoulder shrug.
Carlisle sank back into his chair and eyed Isabella warily. This woman continued to drive him crazy with her know-it-all attitude and her beautiful smile. He couldn't deny that she was gorgeous. If only she'd sew her mouth shut, she'd be perfect.
Oh good Lord, she's still yammering on. What the fuck is she even talking about? Carlisle speculated as he continued to blatantly ignore her.
Her fists suddenly slammed against the table, pulling him from his thoughts. He inwardly gloated when he saw how furious she was, he swore he saw steam coming out of her ears. "What?" he asked innocently.
"Goddamn it, Sparky, if you'd pull your head out of your ass and listen to me, we might actually make this work," she seethed.
What was with this Sparky nickname? Couldn't she come up with something a little more clever than that?
A legal pad of paper wacked him in the chest, his eyes grew wide and trained intently on Isabella.
"Do you have your fucking wife ears on?"
Carlisle burst out laughing. "My what?"
Bella pointed her finger at him. "Don't play with me, fucker."
"Jesus Christ, Pop Tart, calm the hell down." He laughed as he held both hands, palms up in surrender.
Trying to not snap the cocky fucker's neck, Bella took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, this is how it's going to work. We're going to split everything up. I'll do one half and you'll do the other. We'll meet periodically to make sure we're on track. You'd better fucking bring your A-Game, Sparky McGee."
Bella tore the paper in half, wadded it up and chucked it at him. "See you in a few days, Sparky" she called as she strode out of the conference room.
Carlisle watched her ass sway from side to side as she strode out of the room. Fuck me, he thought as he un-wadded the crumpled paper she'd thrown at him. He'd expected to see a list, since they still needed to confirm a venue, sort out the menu, decide on decorations, and inform the waiting staff that they were going to be clad in skimpy, yet tasteful lingerie and firm up the guest list.
He chuckled as he scanned the paper, written on it in Isabella's bubbly flowing handwriting was 'Go fuck yourself, Sparky McGee'.
AN: Hehe… these two crack me up! So, how'd you like it? Let me know, pretty please!
Lara Mayberry made a fucktastic video to go with this story, check it out…
www (.) youtube (.) com/watch?v=nZoDYmAN_tk