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

by Harbin, Mandy

  “Ian!” she yelled, her world shattering around her. She barely heard his guttural growl breaking through her haze of euphoria. She opened her eyes to see Ian’s chest glistening with the sweat he produced through his efforts to prolong his release. His procrastination was no longer viable. The muscles in his neck were corded as he strained through his orgasm.

  He wasn’t easy with his body. His hand tormented the pulsing erection as he shot stream after stream of cum onto his belly. He groaned as he brought himself down and made eye contact with Cassie once again.

  The emotion she saw in his gaze staggered her. If she wasn’t so sure he’d be smart about this and not fall in love with her when there wasn’t a chance for them, she’d swear his feelings mirrored her own.

  And she suddenly realized she wasn’t smart about this.

  6

  By Friday the application was ready, allowing Ian and Cassie an opportunity to test it thoroughly and tweak it as needed. Cassie was full of wonderful ideas and very knowledgeable about her job and the industry as a whole. Ian was finding himself more and more impressed with her abilities the more time he spent with her.

  He was also finding himself unable to get her off his mind when he wasn’t spending time with her. He thought about her nonstop to the point that during the day, he’d send her text messages with naughty little innuendos…and blatant come-ons. Then at night, they’d spend hours masturbating for the other’s viewing pleasure. And still he was unable to assuage his growing need for her. It was the hottest relationship he’d ever had, yet he wasn’t truly with her. Just the thought of not really being with her had his heart howling in protest, but he couldn’t bring himself to examine what that meant.

  Prior to Aaron giving him a taste of the Dom/sub life, Ian had an inkling that his dominant desire smoldered beneath the surface. The experience that Aaron had provided just emphasized that knowledge, but Ian had never felt the surge of possessiveness with another woman before Cassie. Now he couldn’t bank the demand his body was trying to make on him to claim her in every way possible. He knew he was becoming more and more demanding of her, which she seemed to relish. And he fed off that. Whenever she’d send him a text, call him or talk to him online, his insides would scream Mine! It took an exorbitant amount of strength to keep that declaration from being verbalized. Though at the height of his passion, it slipped one way or another, but he’d hoped Cassie chalked it up to him being caught in the moment.

  Or did he?

  Hell, he didn’t know. He didn’t want to explore what that meant, either, because he knew all of it was related to his feelings. Feelings he had no right to embrace.

  Ignorance was bliss. A fucking painful bliss.

  He didn’t know what to do about this mess with Mac. He had an obligation to do his job, but he was discovering his work wasn’t his sole responsibility. The only way he felt he was able to work on the consolidation plan for the closure of Cassie’s office was if he stayed unemotional and looked at it as just another duty. Yeah, he knew it was a shitty way to approach it, but he had no choice. And so whenever Ian had spoken to Cassie, he always made sure he’d asked causal questions about her job, coworkers, assignments and general office dynamics. He’d had enough information to effectively reassign current projects to offices with minimal impact to the other locations.

  Ian spent the afternoon finalizing this dreaded part of Mac’s orders. He hated being put in this position, so the sooner he could finish it, the better he’d feel.

  And the sooner Cassie would lose her job. Where’s your protectiveness of her now? he thought wryly.

  When he finished, Ian emailed the documentation to Mac and strolled into his office. He didn’t want to wait until Monday to talk to Mac about this. Ian wanted it over now. He rounded the hallway and pounded on his boss’s office door.

  “Come in,” Mac called.

  Ian walked in and sat in front of Mac’s desk. “I just sent you the completed consolidation plan.”

  “Good, good,” he said distractedly as he fumbled with some forms on his messy desk. Then he looked up at Ian. “What about the software modification?”

  “Almost finished. We tested and submitted a few changes. It should be ready Monday.”

  Mac sat forward. “Excellent. I have a meeting with the executive staff on Tuesday. I’ll present everything then. In the meantime, I’ll look over your material and let you know if I have any questions.”

  Mac turned back to his computer, effectively dismissing Ian. He suppressed a growl as he stood and left.

  Damn, but he felt two feet tall. He wasn’t used to feeling worthless, and when he normally had a bad day, he’d go home and have a beer. But the only thing appealing to him was Cassie. He still had over two hours before time to leave the office, but Cassie would be leaving in about thirty minutes. He could just leave early. He was finished with everything he had pending. But he couldn’t even wait the thirty minutes for her to get off and then the other amount of time it’d take for her to get home.

  He’d last spoken to her just this morning, but it’d been too long since his last contact. He was quickly becoming an addict, and Cassie was his prized fix that he’d go to any length and pay any price to have.

  Hey, baby.

  Leaning back in her chair at her desk, Cassie reread the text Ian had just sent her. Normally, he was bold in his correspondence with her, but his simple message almost seemed desperate. She wasn’t sure how to respond at first and then decided to keep it simple.

  Hey, yourself.

  Several minutes went by without a response, so Cassie started to wonder if he was even going to reply. A few minutes later, her phone went off, acknowledging an incoming text. She smiled. There he was.

  Send me a picture of your breasts. I need to see them.

  She chuckled as she pushed the phone back enough to snap a shot of her clothed breasts and sent it to him. She did show a little cleavage, but she knew that wasn’t all Ian wanted to see. If he wanted to see more, he’d have to tell her. She liked it when he told her exactly what he wanted. It was freeing in a way not having to guess. After an agonizing minute, she got another message from him.

  Nice. Now go to the bathroom, unbutton your shirt, pull your breasts out over your bra and send me a photo of that.

  Cassie followed his orders, going into the last stall to do his bidding. Just as she was about to take the picture, she got a devious little idea. Rather than taking a picture of her exposed breasts, she’d take one of her exposed belly up to the bottom of her bra. No boob shot. She quickly snapped the image and sent it to him. He immediately responded.

  Well, Sassy Cassie, if I could, I’d spank that little ass for your insolence. She chuckled at the use of her old nickname, the sound echoing against the tile.

  I don’t know what you’re talking about. She threw on a smiley face at the end of her message.

  Now, baby. You know exactly what you did by teasing me with the photo of your very sexy tummy. Now send me one of those beautiful breasts.

  She’d followed his order, sending the picture. Her phone rang immediately afterward.

  “Now that’s what I call a sexy woman,” Ian’s voice poured over the line as soon as Cassie answered.

  “I’m glad you think so.”

  “I know so,” he sighed, and she frowned at his sad tone as she started buttoning her shirt back up.

  “Something wrong?”

  He hesitated, and she paused in adjusting her shirt, waiting to hear what he had to say. “Bad day.”

  She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. The project they were working on was priority and currently with the development team making the final changes. But she also knew Ian was responsible for other projects.

  “You want talk about it?”

  “No,” he said quickly.

  He was definitely on edge for whatever reason, and she didn’t like that. She wanted him at ease, and she would like nothing more than to be the reason for the turnaround in h
is mood. While she thought about her wishes to please him, an idea formed in her head. “You free tonight?”

  He chuckled, and she smiled at the sexy sound. “I’m always free for you.”

  Her heart fluttered while the blood raced to her face, but she tamped down her silly nerves. “Good. Meet me online at seven.”

  She hung up the phone, not giving him a chance to respond. She had work to do and not a lot of time to do it. She ran out of the bathroom and back to her desk. She closed up shop for the weekend, shutting down her laptop and grabbing her purse, then headed straight for Sasha’s desk.

  “Hey, I need your help. I’m calling in all my girlfriend favors.”

  Sasha leaned back in her chair with a saucy grin. “I gotta hear this.”

  “Grab your purse, and I’ll explain on the way.”

  She followed Cassie to the parking lot and jumped into the passenger seat. “Where are we going?”

  “Er, a toy shop,” Cassie said as she pulled out of her parking space.

  Sasha cackled and bounced in her seat like a kid on Christmas morning. “You shouldn’t need a battery-operated boyfriend. You’ve got a living, breathing one.”

  Cassie slanted her eyes at Sasha. “Ian’s not my boyfriend, but I want to surprise him. The nature of our relation—er, arrangement makes it impossible to be with him physically, so I have to improvise.”

  “Oh, I like the sound of this.” Sasha rubbed her hands together as she wagged her eyebrows.

  “You say that now. Wait until I call in the favors.”

  Sasha narrowed her gaze on Cassie. “What’s that mean? Having me go with you to the toy store to hold your hand while you buy a rubber dong isn’t the favor?” She tried to be serious, but she smirked anyway.

  “Nope. I said I was calling in all the favors.” A few minutes later Cassie pulled up to their destination. “C’mon.”

  The girls got out, walked into the store and stared at all the fun paraphernalia. Cassie soon realized she was way out of her element. When she played with her stockbroker friend, he utilized many devices, so she had a frame of reference. But now that she was here, she felt a little intimidated. After taking a fortifying breath, she trudged over to the massive dildo selection. She didn’t have time to hide behind humility.

  “Whoa, look at this hawse!” Sasha grabbed the giant rubber phallus on display, slinging it around.

  “Good grief!” Cassie said, shaking her head. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

  Sasha chuckled, putting it back down. “What kinda dildo do you want to get?”

  Cassie shrugged, looking round. “I don’t know. I guess something like this might work.” She picked up the one attached to a strap-on harness.

  Sasha eyed her critically. “Are you planning on fucking somebody with that? I thought you wanted one to use on yourself.”

  Cassie frowned. “Oh, I do.” She shrugged, struggling for the right way to explain what she wanted. “I, er, I figured it’d make things easier if I could find one that allows me to strap it on somehow to keep it inserted.”

  “Ah, okay.” Sasha looked down the row and stopped, grabbing a box. “Bluetooth?”

  “Huh?” Cassie walked over to her.

  “This one has Bluetooth capabilities.” She pursed her lips while she read the instructions. “Looks like it can be controlled remotely with the right access codes.”

  “Oh my God, next thing you know, there’ll be an app for these suckers for every smartphone on the market.” Cassie chuckled but then seriously thought about it. “Hey, let me see it,” she said as she snatched it out of Sasha’s hand.

  “Damn, girl, you’d have to take out a second mortgage to buy this one.”

  “Yeah, but if Ian could control it, then it’d be a small price to pay.”

  Recognition lit Sasha’s eyes. “You’re one freaky bitch.” She laughed. “He’s gonna have a heart attack when he realizes he gets to have more control over your pleasure.”

  “That’s the idea.”

  And it was perfect. Looked like a simple registration and a link for Ian to access would be all that was needed. With one toy out of the way, Cassie set off to find the other things she needed. She grabbed some nipple clamps, red lingerie, handcuffs and scarves. She was running on nervous energy as she paid for her stash, walked to her car and drove back to the office to drop off Sasha.

  “I don’t mean to burst your bubble or anything, Cass, but you do realize you can’t be completely strapped down.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you have to have at least one hand free to work your gadgets. But he’ll still flip his lid when he sees you.”

  They pulled up to Sasha’s car and Cassie turned toward her. “I plan on being completely strapped down. Now that Ian will be able to control the device, there’s no need for me to have a free hand.”

  Sasha laughed in confusion. “Yeah, but how do you expect to connect to the video call and, more importantly, get free once you’ve had your boom-boom?”

  Cassie smiled innocently at Sasha. “About those favors.”

  7

  “I can’t believe you talked me into this!” Sasha squealed as she pulled a velvet-tipped nipple clamp out of the box.

  “Just drink your wine and shut your trap.” Cassie giggled as she enjoyed a little bit of liquid courage herself. “We only have about fifteen minutes ’til showtime.”

  Cassie wrapped the handcuffs around the iron-scrolled headboard and tied the scarves a decent width apart to satisfy both her comfort needs and Ian’s viewing pleasure. She’d already changed into the new lingerie and donned a robe to wear while she set up everything.

  “You expect me to hang around until you’re finished having internet sex with your hottie, so I can help you break free of the bonds of love.” She chuckled. “I so don’t want to hear you get it on.”

  “Just go into the living room and play Farmville. You’ll be so wrapped up in that you’ll forget what you’re doing here.”

  “Yeah, right. I’ll just plant my fake crops while Ian sows his imaginary seed.”

  “Nothing imaginary about that,” Cassie mumbled with a twinkle in her eye. Then she shook her head. “I’ll tell Ian to text you when we’re finished. But if you don’t get anything from him after about two hours, you have my permission to come check on me.”

  “Just so you know, payback is a biiootch.” Sasha tossed back the last of her wine as she stood and handed over the nipple clamps.

  The lingerie had cutouts at the breasts with a garter belt and stockings. She’d put everything on, sans panties, and had pulled out a pair of matching stilettos. Guys liked it when women wore these dreadfully uncomfortable things, but Cassie had to admit they did look awesome and comfort wouldn’t be an issue lying down. She dropped the clamps and picked up her cell phone, sending Ian a text with the link he needed to control her dildo. The message was cryptic enough not to give anything away until she was ready for him to understand.

  After that was completed, she latched on the nipple clamps, hissing as pain bloomed. With Sasha turned around, Cassie took off the robe, sat in the middle of her bed and tied her feet to the scarves at the footboard. She maneuvered the dildo in place, securing it and turning it on. Then she leaned back and tied the leash that was affixed to the nipple clamps onto her wrists. If she moved them, it’d tug at the clamps, heightening her arousal. She was very careful not to do anything now to excite herself, because Sasha was still in the room, covertly diverting her gaze, and she didn’t want there to be any more awkwardness than what was absolutely necessary. But it was difficult not to get turned-on with the clamps on her sensitive buds and the dildo lodged firmly inside her.

  “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Sasha glanced at her and barked a laugh before quickly stifling it. “Sorry, sorry.” She walked over and cuffed Cassie to the headboard. Then walked back over to the laptop, making sure it was positioned for the best access. She draped a shirt over it, covering the att
ached webcam, so Ian wouldn’t be able to see until Cassie was ready for him to. Working around the cloth, Sasha logged on to Cassie’s Skype account. “He’s already logged on. Damn, he’s fast,” Sasha said suddenly. “He just sent you a video call. Impatient bastard.” She chuckled.

  “Accept the call and get behind the computer. Don’t pull away the cover until I tell you to.”

  Sasha nodded. There was no turning back now.

  Ian went to the link Cassie had sent him, but he wasn’t sure what it was for. It looked to be controls to something electronic. There wasn’t any explanation as to what it was, probably just something around her house, so he wasn’t sure what she needed help with. He’d hoped that tonight’s “date” would be like the others, but if she needed help with some electronics, then he was happy she’d turned to him. He smiled at that thought. This was a good sign, right? That she’d turned to him like a boyfriend for a helping hand.

  He left that window open as he waited for Cassie to connect to Skype. Once she did, he sent her a video call but frowned when she accepted. “Baby, there’s something blocking your webcam.”

  He leaned closer to his screen, trying to make out what was blocking her camera, but he couldn’t identify the offending object.

  “Oh, I’ll get it. Looks like my shirt I changed out of earlier,” she said nonchalantly. “Did you get that link I sent you?”

  “Got it up now.” He popped open a beer as he sat back in his chair, waiting for her to remove the obstruction.

  As he took a drink, the material slinked away, revealing the image before him.

  The air locked in his lungs and blood rushed to his groin, creating the fastest, hardest erection of his life. He stared dumbly, frozen for what seemed like hours but what was merely seconds. He then slammed his beer down, leaning closer and staring at the goddess before him, stunned. Completely and utterly stunned.