Except to go around and open her door when they got home, he never let go of her hand the entire way, even when he closed and locked the front door behind them, he still hung onto it like some kind of lifeline or something.

She expected him to order her – angrily – to strip immediately.

She expected him to bend her over the back of the couch and lay into her with his hand or the paddle or the tawse or the cane.

Or – shudder – all of the above.

What she didn't expect was for him to use his hold on her hand to tug her to him, folding her against him and hugging her, twisting them back and forth, running his hands all up and down her as if he thought she was injured or something.

Then he pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers, holding onto each of her hands with one of his. "Are you all right?" he asked with a catch in his voice that surprised her.

"Yes. It wasn't fun – well, it was up until we got arrested – but even that was an interesting experience."

His head came up and she could see the leashed anger in his eyes. "Jail is not an interesting experience, even if you're only there for a short time."

He sounded as if he knew a hell of a lot more about it than she did, so she didn't say anything more. He'd had a hard life, she knew. There were things that had gone on in Dev's background that he didn't like to talk about and she wasn't one to pry, but she wouldn't have been at all surprised to find that he sounded as if he knew what he was talking about because he had spent a certain amount of time there for one reason or another.

"Do you want me to explain –" she began, but he was leading her into the bedroom and cut her off.

"No, Kurt told me enough about it – probably what you told him. I don't want to talk right now."

He began to undress her, placing everything exactly where it belonged as he removed it from her. Putting her clutch on the top shelf of the closet, above where he put her dress a few minutes later, pulling her panties down and unhooking her bra, sending both sailing to the hamper with the accuracy of a man who had played varsity basketball in high school and still played pickup games whenever he could.

When she was naked before him, he began to touch her and examine her more closely than she thought he ever had, as if he was looking for bruises or she didn't know exactly what. Walking around her, trailing his fingers over her and planting random kisses everywhere, some of them excruciatingly soft – almost not there – some of them leaving hickeys, although always in places where she would never be forced to explain them.

Soon her entire body was even more sensitized to his touch than usual, nipples straining and aching and pebble hard, but cruelly neglected nonetheless, her body weeping with need of him, but he seemed content to simply feast his eyes on her and bestow teasing touches.

He guided her to the bed, lifting her onto it and following her down, kissing her with such tender feeling that tears rose in her eyes and she felt she had to do her best to blink them back, although some escaped into her hair.

Dev was oddly quiet as he buried his face between her breasts, those big hands running down her arms to entwine his fingers with hers, palm to palm, and, somehow, that was at least as intimate as anything else he'd ever done to her.

After several long, eerily silent minutes where he seemed to be cataloguing everything about even her most private parts, Anna felt she had to speak. "Dev, are you okay?"

When he looked up into her eyes, what she saw in his made her heart spasm painfully; it was so much more than mere desire.

"I'm fine. I just –" He took a deep breath and she saw him swallow hard and the stray thought that he might cry flitted through her mind until he forced himself to answer her more completely, his voice getting stronger with every word. "I was very worried – much more than I needed to be, I know, because you're a very responsible, capable young woman. But I –" She could tell that there was something else he wanted to say, but she had the feeling that he changed his thoughts in mid-stream, and he finished with, "I was concerned that I hadn't heard from you, until Kurt called, when I thought it would be you."

He took her then, easing himself into her slowly, his eyes nearly rolling back into his head at the sheer, simple pleasure of sinking himself into her to the hilt. Always sure of her body's welcome, his way eased by her natural slickness even though he hadn't really taken as much time with her as he wanted to and hadn't touched her overtly at all, really.

He would make it up to her. He just found that he couldn't be outside her for another minute or even another second.

Anna found her wrists trapped by her head as he surged heavily into her, plunging erratically from different angles, finding the rhythm and pace that suited her best and never deviating from it. Rocking against her so that his cock rubbed her clit, his eyes searched her face, watching her as he covered her and claimed her, feeling her muscles gather around him, as she got closer and slowing down for a while to force her desires to recede a bit, then beginning again.

Then repeating the cycle until Anna could no longer stop herself from begging for relief, not caring in the least what she sounded like.

"Please – Dev – God – please – let me – aaaaahhhhhnnnnnggg –"

He had started up again, this time more fiercely than before but still slowly, hitting sharply, all the way to the top of her, dragging himself over her most sensitive spots, making her struggle to free herself from the bondage in which he still kept her, but she knew she would never break free of him.

A nipple, caught between his teeth and held there while he rode her hard, finally not stopping until she fell apart beneath him, totally mindless, every nerve ending in her body attuned only to him. Spasming and clamping herself around him uncontrollably, growling and arching, wishing for something sane to hold onto but not allowed to reach out for him, merely required to take what he gave her as he brought her to even wilder crescendos before he allowed himself his own primitive, primal release.

His arms gave out suddenly, and he landed on top of her, all sweaty and panting, and he knew she couldn't breathe with his weight on her like this, so he threw himself to one side while keeping a hand on her hip, as if he felt he had to maintain contact with her for some reason.

After a few minutes, when his heart had stopped trying to bang its way out of his chest, he rolled her to face him, kissing her forehead, then her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips.

"I have a new rule for you."

That list was getting longer and longer…

She didn't say that, though. "What's that?"

"When you are out without me, I want you to text me at least once, to let me know you're all right. The radio silence all evening when we're usually in constant communication just…well, I didn't like it, so you're going to text me or call me or send me a carrier pigeon when you're out by yourself because I'm a wuss and, apparently, can no longer deal with being alone."

"Aw, that's sweet!" She kissed his cheek, and he hugged her tightly to him. When he let her move away from him – although not far – she got up the courage to peep up at him and ask, "So, I'm still in big trouble though, huh?"

Dev stretched out on his back, holding her to his side. "Pretty close to the biggest," he agreed blithely, switching on the TV.

Anna sighed. She was not looking forward to how he was going punish her for this. "But it wasn't my fault! I was just standing there – and trying to pull the soon-to-be-bride off the idiotic police officer," she mumbled quickly and quietly, under her breath.

He wasn't even going to rise to that bait. "We'll talk about this tomorrow, after work."

"After work! You mean I have to go almost twenty-four hours knowing that I'm going to get a horrible spanking?"

Dev chuckled evilly. "You better hope that's all you get, baby girl."

Growling at him didn't help. Nothing would, she knew.

"I'm hungry."

He looked at her, agog. "I thought you guys were going to eat everything in sight?"

She wrinkled her nose in a way he found irresistibly cute. "We went to a buffet. You know how I feel about buffets." Halfway out of the bed, she asked, "Is there still ice cream left?"

Dev had the decency to color a bit. "No."

"Oh. Pringles?"

"No, and don't ask about the hot dog, either," he added defensively.

Her eyes widened. "You ate all those things?" She'd never known him to be any kind of a junk food junkie.

He rose and pulled her back into the bed and into his arms, shrugging his massive shoulders. "I missed you."

What could she do when he said something like that?

She could kiss him, that's what.

And hand him back his five hundred dollars.

* * *

A week later, her best friend, Daria Snyder, slipped into her office just as she was about to head home – or, rather, to Dev's house. She spent more time there than she did at her own place, so she guessed "home" wasn't too far off.

She settled – gingerly – down in her executive chair – one of her few concessions to the position she'd been raised to, even before she started sleeping with the boss.

"What's up?"

"Nothing, I just hadn't gotten a chance to say that I'm sorry we ended up in jail."

It sounded like such a bizarre sentence that all Anna could do was laugh, which got Daria laughing, too.

"No worries. Besides, I'm not sorry. It was cool."

Dary suddenly looked uncomfortable, and Anna, of course, picked up on it.

"What?"

The younger woman began to squirm in her seat. "I don't want to say."

Anna gave her a disbelieving look. "You don't want to say? To me? What is going on with you? I'm the one you told about your life of petty crime as a youngster, when every bit of makeup on your face was stolen. I'm the one you told – and even showed – that cheap assed plastic surgery gone wrong you got on your left breast only, and I'm the one you told about all of those kinky things you like to do in bed."

Bull's eye. That was it. She knew. Anna knew it as surely as if Daria had already told her.

She leaned forward.

"Who told you?"

Her best friend shrugged. "I don't remember. It isn't as if it's a secret, is it? Do you two really think the staff doesn't know you're fucking?"

Honestly, she'd never really thought about what the staff knew or didn't know. None of it was any of their business, and she told Daria essentially that.

Daria scoffed. "C'mon. You know that fucking the boss is news to everyone, especially those of us who are close to you. This place is worse than fucking TMZ about gossip." She gave Anna a jaundiced look, then continued, "And that's not the worst of what's going around about you two, either."

Anna was quite sure she didn't want to know, but she felt compelled to ask anyway. "All right, spill. What's going around about us?"

The other woman looked very uncomfortable, and as if she was going to flat out refuse her request, but then she, too, leaned forward, saying her words kind of under her breath, as if the walls had ears. "They're saying that he…that he spanks you."

She sat back in her chair. She trusted the woman who was sitting in front of her with her life, she could certainly trust her with this and know that she was going to keep her mouth shut about it. After all, she certainly hadn't told anyone – even Dev – about Daria's interests – even at her drunkest.

"He does."

If Daria's eyes got any wider, they were going to fall right out of her head. "Get out!"

"Nope. The absolute truth. If I were less modest, I'd show you my butt right now."

"Really? He's into that? Why didn't I get that vibe from him? I'm the one who told you that's what I'm into, and he went for you!" She thought for a minute. "You mean you're into it, too?"

Anna had to laugh at her incredulous expression. "I am. Always have been."

"Why didn't you tell me that, woman? I certainly told you what – and whom – I fantasized about. You told me a load of shit that night, didn't you!"

Slowly shaking her head, she replied, "I did not. I told you whom I liked the looks of around here and in TV and movies. I just very carefully didn't tell you what I wanted them to do to me. I was sure you were going to guess, though, because I kept asking you all of those very pointed questions…"

"I just thought you were curious – I felt like I was doing a public service, you know? Educating some young vanilla woman about the fact that BDSM isn't abuse when it's consensual and preferably between two people who love and care for each other."

Daria watched her friend's face close up tight.

"Wait a minute, you're sleeping with him but you don't love him? You? The one who disdained all of my booty calls and one night stands?"

This part of the conversation, as far as Anna was concerned, was much more intimate and private than the part about sexual predalictions had been by far.

"I was not disdainful. I just knew it wasn't right for me."

"Until Dev came along."

Anna's back got up just a bit. "Well, it wasn't as if he hired me then fucked me on his desk. We didn't get together until we'd known each other for years, and I'd been alone for quite some time. I…" she blushed, cursing herself again as usual for the weakness. "I was lonely, and he was…attractive to me."

Daria extended her hand to Anna over the desk. "Welcome to sex in the twenty-first century, baby. It's about time you joined the rest of womankind."

Instead of shaking Daria's hand, Anna gave her both middle fingers.

"So…does he spank you a lot?"

"Daria!"

"Oh, please! I spilled my guts to you and you didn't even let on – you owe me some good juicy details! Spill!"

Anna moved to the edge of her seat and winced visibly.

Daria, of course, didn't miss a beat. "You got a sore butt now! I want to see it!"

"I told you I did – you don't listen to me!"

"Let me see it! Let me see it!"

Sighing heavily, she rose from her chair, not really able to believe she was going to do this. But just as she was walking around the edge of the desk to flip her skirt up and expose her still red, still very sore bottom to her friend, there was a knock at the door and Jenny's head popped through the opening.

"Hey! I got someone here who wants to see you – a blast from the past!" She opened the door wider and there stood Tarin Simms.

Anna's mount hung open, and her first thought was that the woman shouldn't be there, not behind the scenes of the casino she'd been fired from, no matter whose friend she was.

But she didn't get a chance to say anything before the woman stormed into the room and made a beeline for her, throwing her arms around Anna and giving her a huge hug, saying in that loud, brash voice of hers, "I bet you'da never guessed it was me!"

Daria caught Anna's eye and silently expressed her own surprise and horror but was then also subjected to an inappropriately enthusiastic hug by the newcomer, who, when Dev appeared, did the same thing to him, lingering even longer and growing quite handsy, as if she thought that was going to make points with him.

"Well, Tarin, I'm certainly surprised to see you…" he said, disentangling himself from the woman as carefully as he could without actually touching her, and all while giving Jenny a "what the fuck" look.

Jenny got the hint and did her best to shepherd Tarin out of Anna's office, but not before Tarin got in the fact that she'd seen the light while she was in prison and was totally reformed, and, of course, looking for a job.

Daria, who was Head of Personnel and had been out on maternity leave when Tarin was hired, gave what looked like a downright painful eye roll at that, out of Tarin's sight, of course.

Everyone said their goodbyes, and even Daria made her way to the door to leave, but not before she turned around, cupped her hand over her mouth and whisper yelled, "I wanna see it!" before whirling around, giving a confused Dev a demure smile and heading out the door.

"What did she mean by that?" he asked, ambling into her office with a handful of never ending paperwork in his hand, which he put in her inbox.

"Nothing. Just girl talk."

Dev came around to where she was sitting and leaned back against her desk and looking around, his face falling into a frown. "I wish you'd let me redecorate this place, or, better yet, move into the vacant office in the new wing that's near me."

The new wing hadn't been new in five years.

Anna hadn't changed her office since she'd gotten it. She liked it. The placard on her door said, "Cash Room Manager," which was really no longer her title, but she retained it for old times' sake, and the office itself – however cramped and old – was home to her.

Her own home, she realized abruptly, was getting quite far down on the totem pole of where she considered she lived…

Dev grabbed her hands and pulled her up and between his spread legs to encourage her to lean against him. "How's your bottom?" he asked, reaching around to squeeze it none too gently while she squirmed and tried to wiggle out from under those cruel fingers.

And with very good reason.

She had been given a bit of a reprieve in conjunction with having ended up in the big house that night almost a week ago, and, at the time, she had bemoaned the fact that he was making her wait to be disciplined, but she should have known better, frankly. What was she, crazy, wishing he'd just spank her and get it over with? Despite how tender and even loving he had been with her, she should have realized just how angry he was, too, and counted her blessings.

Because the next night, when he had her to himself at his place, and they had finished dinner, he had taken the work she'd brought home out of her hands and pulled her onto his lap.

"Okay, tell me your side of the story, because all day long I got an earful of everyone else's."

Anna had explained that Jenny – who, like everyone else, was plastered – had gotten into a hassle with someone she'd accidentally bumped into, and it had gone downhill from there, and the addition of the cop to the equation hadn't helped much. She'd just been trying to keep the bride from going to jail when she did her best to try to pry Jenny off of the cop, on whom she was leaning quite heavily and yelling at quite loudly.

Once she stepped in, everyone else did, too, and it became a bit of a mob with all of the women raining hellfire and brimstone down on the poor cop, who wasn't trying to restrain Jenny, and he ended up arresting all of them at once.

That pretty much jibed with what he'd been told by people he kept asking not to talk to him about it, but he began to feel a bit like a father confessor with this stream of people flowing through his office all day, obviously trying to keep him from being angry at Anna. Everyone kept stressing, for some reason, that he shouldn't be mad at her…

He wondered what that was all about.

Dev moved her hair off her shoulder and caught those pretty eyes of hers. "So you were just trying to help, right?"

Anna nodded, hoping he understood.

"And you didn't call the cop a misogynist pig?"

Her eyes widened.

"Or a sack of useless shit?"

Then closed on a sigh.

"Or a – shall I go on? And you didn't hit him?"

She shook her head. "I-I'd had a lot to drink, and maybe I was…overzealous…"

"Honey, if all you had done was tried to help your friend, even if you'd ended up in jail, I would have collected you and maybe scolded you a bit, but that would have been it. But from what you – and everyone else involved – has described to me, you were very lucky that the only charge you ended up with was drunk and disorderly. It could have been – and probably should have been – assaulting a police officer."

Anna's heart sank.

With that, Dev led her into the bedroom.

Blindfolded, bound, bent over, wrist to ankle, not by cuffs but by one of his silk ties, she was left like that in the middle of the room while he futzed a bit then returned to grab her bottom with both hands.

"I'm sorry, darlin', but this is not going to be fun. And this is not the only night you're going to be punished, either. Every night for the next five nights, then bed. And believe me, you'll be wishing for the bed long before I'm through."

And he had been horribly, depressingly right about that.

And that was why, nearly a week later, she was still sitting gingerly and still had a sore, red bum to show Daria.