Love Against Odds Volume One (Love Agaist Odds Book 10) Read online

  When she logged on to the meeting, he sighed. God, she was beautiful. Brown hair and light-green eyes. Her brown suit and tan blouse would probably look bland on anyone else, but it complemented her creamy skin tone, making it look as if it were bathed in milk. He needed to snap out of it and get this ball rolling.

  “Hey there, sorry for the delay. I copied the application and loaded it into a development environment. I’m sending you the path now.”

  “Great.”

  “I’m also sending you the notes I have on what our client wants. I’ve already noted some changes, but since you’re more familiar with this application, you might be able to tell me where best to modify it.”

  “Okay. I’ll read over that tonight.”

  Ian shook his head and adjusted his earphones. “No, no. I don’t want you working after-hours on this. We should be able to finish without any overtime.”

  Cassie laughed, and Ian could swear he felt her breath on his neck. He stifled a groan when his cock twitched.

  “I don’t mind. Really.”

  “Well, if you are, then I am.”

  She laughed again, the sound that of an angel. Fuck! What was wrong with him?

  “You must not have a life either,” she said, still chuckling as she jotted down something in her notebook.

  “Married to my job.”

  “Same here.”

  Ian felt a pang of sadness. She was dedicated to a job she was about to lose. He was such a piece of shit for not giving her a heads-up.

  But there wasn’t anything he could do, so he needed to use this opportunity to start his investigation.

  “You got a lot of projects going on?”

  “Not too many. How about you?”

  Crap. Her answer was not only too vague, but she threw his question right back at him. Maybe if he was specific, she’d be too.

  “I lead three projects that are long-term and handle smaller ones as they come up. You?”

  “Wow. No wonder you stay busy. I don’t have anything going on long-term. When I’m in the last leg of a project, my time gets scheduled on whatever’s up next. Sometimes they overlap, but I’ve never worked on more than three major projects at the same time.”

  “I’m jealous.” Ian chuckled. “No wonder you produce good work—you’re not frazzled out from being stretched too thin.”

  Cassie smiled softly and Ian had to clench his fist to keep from stroking the monitor like a moron.

  “Why, thank you.” Her Southern drawl was thicker than it had been, and it was quite possibly the most adorable thing he’d ever heard. “But it is how things are done here. Everyone is assigned projects based on their area of expertise, and we work in teams to complete them on schedule. Even if I’m not assigned to a particular project, I’m known to jump in and help when I think I have something to contribute.”

  He smiled and leaned closer to the monitor. “I wish everyone was like that. It’d make my job a lot easier.”

  Her head fell back as she laughed carelessly. Even the column of her neck looked inviting. He’d give anything to collar it. No, he wasn’t a Dom, but he knew he had some dominant tendencies that flared to life every now and then.

  Like right now.

  “Then I wouldn’t be special.”

  “Nothing would change how special you are,” Ian said huskily.

  Cassie gasped, her eyes boring into the screen.

  Fuck! Why did he say that? He cleared his throat. “Um, I think we’ve got enough to go on for now. How about we meet back up in the morning and compare notes?”

  “Er, okay.”

  “Great,” he said quickly. “Talk to you later.”

  “Bye.”

  He disconnected the meeting, yanked his earphones off and threw them on his desk. What the hell had gotten into him? Had he not just told himself to cool it where she was concerned because nothing could come of this? Not right now, anyway? Jesus! He was acting like a sixteen-year-old with his first girlfriend. Next thing he knew, he’d be having wet dreams at the thought of just copping a feel.

  He ran his hands through his disheveled hair, realizing he had to get out of here. He logged off and grabbed his laptop, thinking over the rest of their meeting as he bolted. At least he did learn a little about the dynamics of her office. It didn’t seem as if she was juggling too many projects, and the way she talked, that was the norm for everyone there. It was a start.

  A start to his betrayal of her. Fuck! He needed a beer.

  2

  Cassie was snuggled in her pj’s, sitting on her bed with her laptop while she worked. So what if she was on her second glass of wine? She needed the help relaxing her nerves after her meeting with Ian. Damn, but the man was sex on a stick and she’d love to eat him up. What had he meant about calling her special? That comment was so out of the blue, and she could tell that it caught him off guard too.

  Great. There she went again, getting distracted. She downed the rest of her glass and filled it back up. She’d had enough of work, anyway. Ian got a good start and was definitely on the right track where the changes needed to be made. She documented some other areas where modifications were needed and emailed everything to Ian. Now she wanted to chat with Sasha to get her perspective on what happened today, and if she knew her good friend, she’d be on Facebook playing Farmville by now. Yeah, Sasha didn’t have a life either. She just didn’t spend her free time working.

  Cassie logged on and saw that Sasha was too, just as she’d figured.

  Quit playing Farmville so we can chat! Cassie messaged her.

  LOL! You know me so well. What’s up?

  Cassie relayed her meeting with Ian in short messages that Sasha quickly responded to.

  Holy shit! Methinks he has the hots for you.

  Methinks you’re crazy. He couldn’t end the meeting fast enough after that slip.

  So you think he was just distracted and didn’t realize what he was saying?

  Cassie sighed as she sipped more wine. She didn’t know what to think.

  That was why she told Sasha. I need an unbiased opinion on what I should do.

  Girl, you need to tell Dick Weiner that you need to fly out to the west coast office to work one-on-one with Ian.

  Cassie laughed as she gulped more wine. Shut up! I’m not doing that. I need help staying focused on my job, not help plotting ways to seduce the west coast hottie.

  You’re no fun. Okay, fine. Quit fantasizing about him.

  Ugh! I need reasons why.

  Hmmm. How about, you don’t know him. He could live at home with his momma.

  Cassie laughed and nodded. That’s good. I need more, though.

  What could be worse than a titty baby? Okay. You’ve only ever seen him from the waist up. He could be five-two. Oh, wait. His dick could be broken. You’ve never even seen a cock bulge.

  Cassie snorted and almost spat out her wine. A short titty baby with a broken dick. Only you could come up with that.

  I aim to please, sister. Hold on a sec while I check my crops.

  Good Lord. Sasha was a Farmville junkie. Cassie used the opportunity to check her messages and new friend requests. She ignored the ones she didn’t recognize and accepted a few old classmates from high school.

  She nearly dropped her glass when she saw her request from Ian Cope. No way. She hadn’t checked her Facebook account in almost a week, but this had to have been recent.

  Okay, I’m back, Sasha messaged.

  You’ll never guess who sent me a friend request.

  Not Paul from accounting again? Just ignore it. He’ll get the picture eventually.

  Er, no. Ian.

  Well, well, Mr. Short Titty Baby may have a broken cock, but he sure as hell has balls. You accept it?

  Not yet.

  Whatcha waiting for? He might have nekkid pics of himself on his page.

  Cassie sighed. What was she waiting for? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t accepted friend requests from others she worked with. She quickly accept
ed it before she could give it any more thought.

  Just did.

  Good girl.

  Either Cassie was starting to feel the effects of all this yummy wine she’d downed so far or she was lightheaded from what just happened. She preferred to put the blame on the alcohol. She was getting ready to respond when a new message window popped up.

  Hi. You’re up late.

  Shiiiiiit!

  Gotta go, Sasha. Ian just messaged me.

  Get out! Girl, I want deets on the morrow.

  She closed their chat and stared at Ian’s message. What the hell was she going to say? Guess honesty was the way to go.

  Was working. You have some great ideas. I sent you some other changes that I think need to be made.

  Good. You have a Skype account? Since you’re working anyway, we can meet right now and go over some things without being interrupted.

  Er, no, she didn’t have a Skype account. Her family lived close by and the only people she talked to online like that were through work.

  Nope. But I can sign up real quick. I’m sure it’s not rocket science.

  I’ll log on. Just do a search for my name and add me as a contact. Then select me and click video call.

  Cassie created an account and added him as he’d requested. It was really easy. She opened up another window and logged on to her work network through the VPN connection, so she’d be ready for their impromptu meeting. Then she clicked the appropriate button on Skype to initiate the call.

  “Hi, there,” Ian said when he came into view.

  God, he was gorgeous. Cassie had only seen him in a tie, unless he wore a polo on casual days. Now he was in a tight-fitting t-shirt. It was faded but showed some football team and fit him like a second skin. He sat far enough back from his computer that she could see the tops of his lounge pants and upper thighs, but was too far for her to notice any bulge to discredit Sasha’s silly broken-dick theory.

  He took a swig of his beer and set it aside, his muscles rippling with little effort. When he licked his lips, moisture pooled between her legs. She fantasized about what he could do with that wet tongue. Her nipples hardened, making her acutely aware of how thin her spaghetti-strap top was. She suddenly realized she’d had way too much to drink tonight and shouldn’t have agreed to this, but was too buzzed to care as much as she should.

  “Hey,” she said a little too breathlessly, grabbing her glass of wine, swallowing the last of it and filling it up again, damn near draining the bottle. With as much as she’d had to drink, her mouth shouldn’t be so dry.

  He chuckled. “Looks like you’ve had fun tonight. Unless you had someone helping you with that bottle.” He took another pull of his beer.

  “Nope. And I actually stopped working before I really started feeling the effects, just so you know.”

  He threw his hands up, one still holding his beer. “Oh hey, I’m not here to judge. I’m on my fourth one of these.”

  “Good, then if I go down, I’m taking you with me.” She chuckled as she took another sip.

  Something dark flashed across Ian’s eyes but was gone before she could fully analyze it. “So tell me about yourself, Cope.”

  He cocked an eyebrow with his beer halfway to his luscious mouth. “What do you want to know, Tucker?”

  She tilted her head as she thought. “Do you live at home with your mom?” Cassie blurted.

  He spewed beer before throwing his hand up to his mouth. He swallowed and coughed as he laughed. “Where the hell did that come from?”

  She was trying not to laugh at the scene he made, but she wasn’t doing a very good job. “Just answer the question, Cope,” she said with mock seriousness.

  “No, I don’t live with my mom.”

  “Damn,” Cassie muttered as she took another sip of her wine. There goes one possible theory.

  “What did you say?”

  “Oh nothing, nothing.” She waved her hands dismissively. “I probably should’ve just asked how tall you were instead.”

  “What does that have to do with living with my mom?” There was genuine amusement in his eyes.

  Cassie shrugged innocently. It wasn’t as if she could come out and tell him about her conversation with Sasha.

  “I’m six-two.”

  “Damn!” she mumbled into her wineglass.

  He laughed. “I don’t know if I should be offended or what. Normally, women like a tall man who doesn’t live at home with mommy.”

  “Not me.”

  Ian leaned forward, setting his beer down. “No?”

  “No. I like short titty babies all the way. Even better if they have broken dicks.”

  He threw his head back in a fit of laughter and slapped his chest, leaving his hand over his heart while he got his composure. Damn, but he was sexy. Cassie wished she could just crawl through the screen and straddle his lap.

  “Well, I’m batting zero, darlin’,” he said as he wiped his eyes.

  “I knew it’d never work,” she said, feigning disappointment.

  His smile began to fade and he swallowed, though he didn’t take a drink. He rubbed his hands on what had to be his legs, but Cassie couldn’t see that far. He seemed to be getting uncomfortable, and she felt guilty for allowing the conversation to trickle into an inappropriate area. Heat tinged her cheeks, but as much as she wanted to say it was because of embarrassment, she knew that’d be a lie. No matter how he felt, she was turned-on and too buzzed to be smart about this. Her pussy was wet and she ached to touch it. Oh yeah, as soon as she ended this call, she’d be taking care of herself, pretending it was Ian Cope.

  She finished her wine quickly. “Well, I think I’m too drunk to get any work done.” And too horny. “I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

  “Wait, I—”

  “Bye.”

  Cassie clicked the button and the screen got smaller. Then she pushed her laptop away and fell back on her bed. God, why did that man have to be the hottest thing she’d even seen? And now she knew he was tall, self-sufficient with a working dick. She groaned at the thought of what he could do with his big, hard cock and pushed her pants and panties down her thighs. She let her fingers trail lightly over her belly to her pussy, slowly tracing the seam.

  “I want you to touch me,” she whispered, imagining it was Ian’s finger about to breach her barrier.

  Her finger slipped into her wet folds and she gasped. She pushed two fingers inside and fucked herself slowly, teasingly. She worked her fingers, thrusting until more cream flooded her. Then she pulled out, circling her swollen nub.

  “Yes,” she breathed. “Like that.”

  She wanted Ian’s mouth on her, ravishing her, drinking her honey, sucking her clit, his large body hovering over her, dominating her. Even though she tried it once, she never really got into the whole Dom/sub dynamic, but she had to admit a little domination was sexy as hell. Just the thought of him holding her down, seeing to her pleasure, ensuring his own, was enough to send her to the edge. She stopped teasing herself and shoved her fingers back inside her pussy while she used her other hand to rub her clit. She frantically tried to get herself off, thrusting her hips up, fucking herself while she fingered her hard button. She was moaning, so close, almost there.

  She squeezed her eyes shut because she started to see stars. Then colors exploded behind her eyelids as her climax hit. She was panting as she brought herself down from the heights of her pleasure when she heard a masculine roar. She shot up in the bed, yanking herself out of her foggy bliss to see Ian’s image within a smaller screen on the laptop. Oh, fuck! Please don’t be a live shot. She clicked to enlarge it and gasped when she saw him sitting in the same place he’d been when she had disconnected their video call—or when she’d thought she’d disconnected it.

  Only he wasn’t watching her. His head was thrown back, his hand fisted around his cock, stroking it while cum shot onto his belly and all over his hand.

  She was frozen as she stared, mortified at what he’d witnessed, y
et fascinated at what he was doing.

  Groaning, he looked up and saw her looking at him, her image sobering him.

  “Cassie, I—”

  She shut the laptop before he could finish.

  This was bad. This was very bad.

  3

  Cassie wasn’t answering her cell the next morning, and when Ian tried calling her office line, he got her voicemail. He sent her an email but got an out-of-office reply stating she was out for the day.

  He wanted to talk to her and was irritated she was obviously avoiding him, but what the hell was he going to say when he finally reached her? Sorry I invaded your privacy with my voyeuristic kinks? Yeah, that’d go over really well. He felt like the biggest asshole on the planet. He knew she’d tried to end the connection last night, so he should have done it for her. But it happened so fast there was a small part of him hoping her actions were on purpose, and if there was the slightest chance that was the case, he wasn’t going to stop the show.

  Damn, but the woman was beautiful, and the sexiest little vixen he’d ever laid eyes on. If he had any doubts about her attraction to him, last night quashed them. Granted she was drunk, but she had to be thinking about him when she got off since she’d yanked her panties down inside of five seconds after talking to him.

  And after Ian got over the shock of seeing Cassie masturbate, he couldn’t not touch himself too. He’d already been hard as steel from her flirting banter. He’d had every intention of jacking off last night anyway, but watching her touch herself caused his hard cock to ache beyond any sanity he could’ve clung to. He’d pulled out his dick before he’d even realized what he was doing. All logic flew right out the window, right along with his morals.

  And here he was trying to pin his actions on the hope that she’d meant for him to watch. Yeah, he was definitely a first-rate asshole.

  Ian spent the morning going over the changes that Cassie had sent him last night. She’d done a really great job understanding the requirements and identifying areas where the changes could be made to best meet the client’s needs. He also noted some modifications to build a generalized prototype pursuant to his instructions that trickled down from corporate. He met with his development team to initiate the work and set a timeline to complete it in two days. He’d work on the test plan documentation to get it ready for testing, and in the meantime, he would hope that two days would give Cassie enough time to muster up the courage to face his sorry ass.