The promise she made to him that evening was tested a few months afterwards. A group of girls from Aces decided to throw one of their own, Jennifer Stewart, the current cash room manager, a bachelorette party, on the occasion of her long time coming and apparently very extravagant wedding to her long time boyfriend, Ken.

Jenny was one of those girls who watched all of those bridal shows and wanted one of everything she'd seen on them at her own wedding.

Even though they certainly weren't planning on doing anything too crazy, Anna was quite nervous about asking Dev if she could go.

In fact, she wasn't really sure whether they were at the point in their relationship where she needed to ask if she could go. He was always so positive about making sure he didn't stifle any social life she might have without him when she mentioned things she wanted to do, and he hadn't told her expressly that he expected her to do so.

But things had progressed between them so well – so relatively smoothly and surprisingly naturally – that she kind of had the feeling she ought to. Then she considered what she'd do if he said no, which she thought was highly unlikely, but still, it was a possibility. She'd be one very unhappy girl if she had to miss this night out with her friends.

So, when he arrived home after her, one evening, because he had a business meeting, he found her on her knees, a few steps in from the door. He was already at half-mast just at the idea of being alone with her again and from thinking about her on the drive home. He made it the rest of the way at the sight of her, nude, in such a lovely, submissive position, wearing only the diamond studs he had given her as a Christmas gift – which she'd almost refused and got spanked for trying to do so – as well as the first gift he'd given her as her Dom. It was a pretty silver necklace with a locking heart that cost about two percent of what the earrings had, but, as far as he knew, she had never taken it off since he'd put it around her neck.

Dev put his briefcase down and began wrenching at his tie as he came to stand in front of her, towering over her, the bulge at the front of his pants growing more enormous by the second. Her eyes met his, then he watched her lower them to his feet.

"My, my, my, this is a lovely surprise," he said, more gruffly than he wanted to, but he was achingly hard, and he sometimes – always, often – found it hard to modulate his voice when he was in that condition.

"I hoped you'd like it," she said softly. "May I help you with that?" she asked, reaching up with her hands as if she'd get up and remove the tie for him, but he shook his head.

"No, I like the sight of you kneeling there like that very much." He got rid of his tie completely, flinging it aside, removing his jacket and dropping it onto the floor, then going for the cuffs of his dress shirt and folding them back slowly, knowing she liked to watch him do that; he knew just that simple act would make her wet. He didn't know why, or what it was about it, but it seemed to remind her very acutely of his dominance over her and was certainly easy enough for him to do.

When his tanned, well-muscled forearms were revealed, he reached out to run his hand through her hair, then cupped her jaw and brought her eyes to his. "Since you're already there, and looking so beautifully submissive, I think I'll avail myself of that pretty little mouth of yours."

His hands went to his belt buckle, and she put hers over his, silently asking permission to do that for him. With a small smile, he left off and let her do what she wanted to – what he liked and often expected her to do for him.

Somehow, the differences in their heights worked out just about right when she was positioned this way – his cock, when it bobbed forth from his underwear, was just about at the same level as her mouth when she leaned forward a bit. Dev took a step closer so she wouldn't have to come out of her kneel, pressing himself past those tightly pursed lips and into that warm, wet cavern.

Her supplicant position, her nakedness and the sheer fact that even now, after all the time they'd been together, he was still as hungry for her as he had been that first night, all of that conspired against him. He was quicker with her – almost every time – than he'd ever been with any woman before, and it was one of the few things that bothered him about how he was with her. He wanted to last forever with her and for her, but he showed an annoying lack of ability to control himself when she had him in her mouth, especially.

Watching the length of his cock disappearing between those lightly frosted pink lips drove him wild, and, long before he wanted to, he had to reach down and grab her head. Burying his fingers in her hair and taking over from her amazing instincts, feeling her relax around him and beneath his hands to let him take her mouth as he would, which was yet another thing about her that pulled out all the stops for him. Any time she yielded herself to him, made him feel like a sixteen-year-old with his first woman. She deep throated him with no hesitancy whatsoever from the beginning, despite his size, and had only gotten better at it as she'd become familiar with what he liked.

The woman damned near killed him every time, he thought as he erupted down her throat and felt her sucking his cum out of him until he had to back her off – he was much too sensitive. She had already wrung him dry in a humiliatingly short amount of time.

He did hold her there, with her face buried against his cock, his fingers clenched in the hair at the top of her head while the breath blew out of him like a hurricane and he tried to gather his scattered brains into some semblance of order.

"Christ, woman, you are going to be the death of me!" he complimented, although it sounded more like a complaint.

Anna smiled at his praise. "I should hope not!"

Finally, he stepped back and tucked himself back into his underwear.

She wanted to catch him when he was still basking in the afterglow, so Anna spoke up. "Dev?"

"Yes, baby girl?" He would have helped her up and kissed her, then headed for the bedroom to change, but she sounded unusually serious, so he paused where he was, the high of the climax still buzzing through his body.

She was looking at the carpet again, and he didn't like that. She was submissive to him, yes, but he didn't generally like her to act like it overtly. He adored her strength. And it was the subversion of that strength to his that he enjoyed most about her submission. Her voluntary acceptance of his will over hers.

He could see that she was biting her lip, a sure sign that she was uncertain about something. Dev tilted her face up to his. "What is it, Tink?"

Anna would have looked down again, but he wouldn't let her. "Well…I don't really know what to do."

"About what?" he asked, surprised. "Have you misbehaved, woman?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm just not sure what I should do."

To her surprise, he leaned down and picked her up – which he seemed to love to do – bringing the both of them to his big sofa and cuddling her on his lap, his heart twisting painfully at the way she always clung to him when he held her like this, even after he'd punished her.

He had to admit – to himself, anyway – that his feelings for her were changing, becoming dramatically deeper and harder to ignore. He had the horrible feeling that he was falling in love with her, and yet she'd never made any mention or movement that he could construe as her feeling the same way about him. She'd come to him, asking to have a one-night stand that he'd finagled into a wonderful, fulfilling D/s relationship, but neither one of them ever said anything about love at all. Heck, he didn't even feel comfortable calling her "love" as a casual endearment. He'd had to stop himself from doing so on more than one occasion, his mind wanting him to slip into using "my love" with her, but not feeling that he could or should, so shying away from even that, entirely.

Dev wondered what her problem was. His heart nearly stopped at the thought that she might want to end whatever it was that they had together, but then he reminded himself that he hadn't seen any signs of discontent from her at all. But what they had was so tentative, really, he wasn't at all sure that he'd see them – or that she'd reveal them to him.

He took a deep breath. Whatever it was, he'd handle it, but her hesitation had him concerned.

"What is it, honey?" he coaxed, rubbing her back, hoping for the best but preparing himself for the worst.

She was going to wear that lower lip of hers out, and he reached up with the tip of his index finger to pull it away from her teeth. "I'm just not sure what you would expect me to do in this situation. We've not really…addressed it."

The look he gave her – with his head cocked to one side, chin down – told her that his patience was running thin.

"Jenny's bachelorette party is next weekend. Do I have to ask you to go? Should I assume I can go? I'm not sure where we stand on things like that. You always want me to go and do stuff with my friends, but should I be asking you for your permission?"

He heaved a mental sigh of relief and felt a swelling in his chest at the same time, hugging her tighter to him and putting his chin on the top of her head as she tucked it against his neck. "Well, at the risk of not sounding Dommish enough, how do you feel about the idea of asking me for permission to do things like that? Is that too control-freakish for you?"

"Is it too control-freakish for you?" she asked, tossing the ball back into his court.

Dev snorted at that idea. "Honey, you know I would keep you chained to my bed if the law allowed it."

Anna giggled. "You have kept me chained to your bed, on occasion!"

"Yeah, well, I'd do it on a permanent basis if I didn't think you'd be unhappy there after a while. You know I just want what's best for you in every situation, and I'm perfectly willing to do whatever that is. If you like the idea of having to ask me for permission to do things like that, then I'm very on board with expecting it of you."

It was one of the things she lo—liked—the most about him. He talked to her. Sometimes, he'd already made his mind up about something he was going to want her to do – or that he didn't want her to do – and he talked to her about it, but she'd never been able to change his mind – and sometimes he hadn't, and he asked her opinion about it. Sometimes, he mentioned that he didn't want to sound like a wishy-washy Dom, but he never did to her. He talked to her, and, even if he wasn't going to budge, he listened to her, and regardless of the outcome, he always made her feel that her opinion mattered to him and that he valued it.

He remained quiet for a long moment, giving her a chance to add anything else she might want to.

Her fingers began to play with the first unopened button of his shirt, and her voice was small as she asked, "But if I agree that I have to ask, are you going to say yes?"

That tickled his funny bone for some reason, and he bear hugged her till she squealed, rocking them dramatically back and forth, then leaning over with her beneath him to press her back into the couch cushions. "I think you know that I'm not going to answer that. Your submission to me should not be conditional on one answer I might or might not give, young lady. Either you submit, or you don't, whether or not you like the answers you get."

She frowned fiercely, and he decided to act.

"From this moment on, I want you to ask me for permission before you make any social commitments that don't involve me, honey."

"That's not fair!" He'd learned that her first reaction to a new restriction was often defiance of some sort.

"Fair is not a consideration of mine when I make rules for your behavior."

"Obviously not," she whined as he bent his head to suckle at a distended nipple. Damn, she hated when he did things like that! She couldn't think with his mouth on her – or his hands – or, indeed, with him anywhere within a two-mile radius of her, especially when she was naked!

"So, can I go?" she asked, panting between each word.

Dev tapped his chin pensively. "I don't know. What are you girls going to do?"

Anna felt as if she was sixteen again and trying to convince her father to let her borrow the car. "Drink, eat, probably go to Wild Boyz, eat some more, drink some more, I don't know. I'm not head of the entertainment committee – I'm just along for the ride."

Although he had to admit that the idea of her watching a bunch of beefed up male strippers gave him pause, he put her out of her misery. "Yes, you may," he emphasized. "But you are to hold to your no drugs promise, and I want you back in my arms by midnight."

"Midnight?" she practically screeched. "We're not going out until eight – the party'll just be getting started! I haven't had a curfew since –" She thought long and hard. "I don't think I've ever had one!"

"Well, then your parents were entirely too permissive. You may stay out no later than two o'clock." He nipped at her sensitive flesh with the edges of her teeth, causing her to yelp. "And you know how I am about punctuality, little girl. Two-oh-one will see you over my lap."

"Yes, I know."

She sounded like a recalcitrant teenager and he was of a mind to paddle her sassy bottom.

But other parts of her called to him much more strongly at the moment, as he trailed his mouth down her tummy and she began to moan even before he reached his luscious destination…

She'd left his place at six, saying she needed to go and help get the potential bride ready – and he shuddered to think what that meant – although he knew that they weren't heading out till eight. He knew Jenny, too, since she worked at Aces, so as a small surprise, he arranged for a limo to drive them all around together, so that no one had to be a designated driver.

Anna, of course, had known as soon as she'd heard about his offer that it was just so that he knew she'd be relatively safe, but it was nice of him to do, anyway.

He carefully hadn't reminded her either of her promise or her curfew before she'd left. Instead, he'd kissed her tenderly, complimented her on her dress, and told her to have a good time, hoping she'd leave without noticing that he'd slipped five hundred dollars into her clutch, just in case she needed it.

By ten, he was bored to tears. Enough that he put on Red Dwarf in the background as he studied some reports just because it made him feel as if she was there, in that unacceptably big, empty bed with him.

He valiantly resisted the urge to text her.

At midnight, he'd broken down and ate the last of the pint of Haagen Dazs caramel cone ice cream, half a remaining tube of Pringles and a hot dog, which hadn't passed his lips in probably fifteen years.

He barely resisted the urge to text her.

Around one, he started looking at his phone every minute or two, and at one thirty, he actually convinced himself that she might come home early and left the bedroom door open so that he could begin to listen for the sound of the key in the lock.

One-forty-five found him sitting on the edge of the bed, fidgeting and biting his nails.

One-fifty, he moved into the living room, in order to be closer to her when she got home. She must've been having such a great time to have cut it so close! He wanted to hear all about it, but mostly he just wanted her back in his arms.

Five minutes later, he stood in the entryway, staring at the door like a golden retriever, waiting for his mistress to come home.

At two, he had his phone in his hand, ready to text her a scathing reminder that she was misbehaving every second that she was not home with him, and that he was going to make her thoroughly regret her disobedience.

But he didn't. It wasn't as if she didn't know he was going to set fire to her ass the moment she stepped through the door.

When it got to be two-thirty and he hadn't heard anything from her, he began to worry, and sent her a benign text.

You all right?

Nothing.

A half hour later, when his call to her went unanswered, too, just when he was wondering if he should start to call the area hospitals, a call came through.

But not from Anna.

It was Kurt, a man seven or so years younger than he was. Eager and capable, he had rapidly become indispensible at work – as well as a great friend.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, Dev? I don't know exactly how to tell you this…I'm not even sure if I should be telling you this, really…"

His heart sank. "Just say it."

"Well, uh, did you know that Jenny's bachelorette thing was tonight?"

"Yeah, Anna and Alysse and all of the girls are out at it now. They're – Anna's late back." Well, that was perhaps a bit too much information, but he covered himself. "She's later than she thought she'd be. Said she'd probably be in by two or so."

"I just got a call from her, Dev."

He frowned. "She called you?"

"Yeah, and she swore me to secrecy, so I'm breaking a confidence, telling you this."

Dev's face clouded over darkly. "But she's all right?"

He heard the younger man scoff. "Well, yeah, I guess so, if you can call sitting in a jail cell all right."

"She's where?"

He'd shrugged into a t-shirt and shorts and threw his wallet in his back pocket on his way out the door as Kurt filled him in.

It was nothing he really wanted to hear, but he didn't say anything until he'd heard it all. "Thanks for telling me, man. And you did the right thing calling me."

Kurt was silent for a moment, then said, "I didn't want to get her into trouble, but I thought you'd want to know. I know you two are, uh, pretty close."

They hadn't really said anything about their situation to anyone at work, figuring it was really none of their business. But he guessed that things got around anyway, no matter how low key they'd tried to be about it.

And did Kurt have an inkling about what kind of a relationship they had, or was he just kidding, Dev wondered.

"Yes, we are. Thanks again, buddy. I'll see you Monday."

He arrived at the station, where apparently all of them were being held, a few minutes later, introduced himself to the desk sergeant and told him that he was going to post bail for all seven of them, which was quickly arranged.

Apparently, they'd all been arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct.

He didn't get to see any of them until they were released and came out into the lobby where he was, and none of them looked in the least drunk or disorderly. But then, a couple of hours in a holding cell would sober anyone up pretty quickly. All of the other women hugged him and thanked him for bailing them out. He offered to take everyone home – although it would have been a crowded car, but some of their boyfriends or husbands were already there to pick them up. He made sure before he left that everyone had a way home.

Anna was the last to come out, doing so with very obvious reluctance, but as soon as she did, he went over to her and hugged her, then took her hand in a vice-like grip, keeping her close by him while he saw to the others.

When everything had been arranged to his satisfaction, he led her out of the police station to his car, opened her door for her, which he was in the habit of doing anyway. Then, he went around to slip behind the wheel, reclaiming her hand as soon as he got there, as if he thought she was going to run away from him.

The thought had already occurred to her, especially as she'd walked down the hallway that lead to the lobby of the police station where she could hear that he was the one who was waiting for her, even though she'd called Kurt deliberately, instead of him. She should have known he'd rat her out, but she didn't feel comfortable asking any of the other women's husbands to shell out that kind of money for her, since she didn't know them.

Actually, she wondered if she went up and slapped the sergeant on duty, whether she'd get arrested again, so that she didn't have to go home with Dev.

But she knew he'd just bail her out again, and she'd be in that much more trouble because of it.

She never thought she wouldn't want to go home with him. But that was the sad state of affairs she found herself in as he drove her home from the police station, early that morning