Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, only the setting and the interaction.

Note: Now it's time to ramp up a bit the sexy description and to start putting our characters into more compromising positions. I'm also setting the scene for the next couple of chapters. In a few chapters I'm sure our protagonists won't be able to resist one another. ;-) Enjoy!


Chapter 3: A Comfortable Closeness

Sandor helped Sansa close up the garage, took his things and followed her down a tiny trail behind the place that lead to her home. Along the way he toyed with the idea of what he might find there. 'Some sort of crazy shrine to all her ex-boyfriends? An overly feminine man-hating nest? A dark room where the cocks of all the men she had slept hung on the walls?' he laughed at this last thought, as he watched her sway that cute ass in front of him, guiding him through a tiny wood, past a small detached garage and toward the back door of a large two story house. There was a wooden porch around the place, a garden with a doghouse, and a long dirt road that must have been the driveway to the main road.

Once inside Sandor wasn't surprised that it was a comfortable place with a rustic feel. Hunting trophies lined the walls with a huge fireplace and comfy sofa, the pictures that decorated the walls gave the impression of happy times, perhaps of times long past. The red-headed woman in the photos must have been her mother, they had the same smile and hair. She was always smiling, usually with her arms around another person, which could have been Sansa or any one of her, what he presumed to be, several siblings. Sandor knew she was dead, had known that from the time they had met. 'Such a big family house for one.' he mused. 'Must be fucking lonely.'

Sansa lead him down a small hallway on the first floor and stopped in front of the first door on the left, "You can take Rob's room." She opened the door so he could go inside and inspect it for himself. It was a large room with a bed in the corner, a desk and photos of pinups and motorcycles everywhere. If Sandor had to venture a guess, he'd say Rob would have been about 17 or so, a teen on the cusp of manhood. The bed was big and long enough so that his feet wouldn't hang off the edges, but far too clean to belong to the boy the personal effects in the room spoke of. When he turned toward his host, he saw her leaning against the doorframe, a melancholy look on her face, her arms crossed tensely against her body. It wasn't the right time to ask questions, Sandor simply nodded in acceptance of the room and dropped his bags on the floor near the bed.

At this her face lit up. "Come here, I wanna show you something." Sansa lead him back through the house, past the kitchen and out the back door they had come through to the garage.

'Now she's going to show me her man corpse collection' Sandor teased himself as she unlocked the garage and turned on the lights.

"Most people probably wouldn't care so much." She started, pulling off the tarp from a head of something on the side of the old messy garage. "But a man who rides a Harley like that, might enjoy this too." She smirked as the final bits of cloth fell away from a 1960 Triumph Bonneville. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head, it was in really good condition.

As he approached the bike she spoke, "My daddy started restoring it from a lump of rusted nothing a couple of years back. Then I took over." She had her hands stuck in her pockets, almost in a shy way watching him eye her pride and joy.

The Hound ran his hands over the body of the motorcycle and took in the beauty of it. He could have lived a thousand years and never found a woman like this, one who shared this love of bikes like he did. One with a cute arse, a beautiful face and a talent for fixing things. "She's a real beaut." he said looking deep into Sansa's ice blue eyes. He wondered if she could tell he was really talking about her, he could have given a shit less about the bike. The flush that ran across her cheeks hinted that perhaps she did.

"I'm getting her ready for a road trip." Sansa said.

"Where are you headed?" he asked, finally turning his attention away from her reflection in the motorcycle.

"Don't know yet." She began, a bit uneasy with the question. "Just somewhere away from here." She finished as she covered the bike and brought him back to her house.

"I guess you must be pretty tired from your travels." She said leading him back to Rob's room. "The shower is here." She pointed to the door across from his. "There are towels in there and everything you would need to settle in." Her eyes met his and Sandor couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking as she examined him.

"I've only got strawberry shampoo and cucumber shower gel." She said with a cheeky grin, "I hope you don't mind."

"I always considered myself a coconut bath scrub kind of guy, but I guess I can settle." He said with a straight face, feeling his heart race as he drew a hearty laugh from her beautify lips.

"I'll remember that." She grinned. "Take your time, I'll fire up the grill and put some steaks on. You'll find beer in the fridge and me on the porch." She winked and disappeared back to the kitchen, her hips swaying in a way that made it hard for Sandor to cover up the fact that he liked her. He glared at the growing bulge in his pants as he entered the bathroom and dug out a towel.

Sandor started the water and stripped off his clothes. It had been a while since he'd had a good hot shower. He'd been either sleeping rough or crashing in cheap motels with no warm water along the way. A couple of days here would recharge his batteries, would give him the will to keep going, keep away from the wrath of Gregor.

'Gregor.' Just the thought of him brought Sandor back to the night he opened a huge red shipping container on their docks in Houston. He'd been on call that night and had come as soon as their men had said it had arrived. As usual he grabbed the documents for the container, read them and knew immediately that something wasn't right. Despite the complaints of the men he went down and opened the container, not waiting for his brother to show up onsite. What he saw there would haunt him. Perhaps 70 - 100 women, girls and boys. Stuffed into a container, the stench was horrific, the pleading of these poor people for help rang in his ears. Sandor balled his fists as the warm water ran over his body. It was unforgivable what his brother was doing and he'd be damned to be a part of it.

He opened the cucumber shower gel and immediately shifted his thoughts to his extremely beautiful and intoxicating hostess, Sansa. He ran his hands over his body thinking of her smile and her wit. She liked to tease him and didn't shy away from his appearance. That was odd, but then again, there was something odd about her. Her mother was dead, that much he knew. One brother was a dreamer or a half-wit, the other he wasn't sure...and the father. There was also another girl in the photos on the walls of the house, a sister perhaps? Sandor couldn't say he knew what was going on, but he also knew when something wasn't right. 'Perhaps she can stomach my face, because she feels like that on the inside. Ugly, disfigured and not worth anybody's time…'

Taking a moment to ponder this profound thought, Sandor smiled then turned his attention to his pulsating member. Resting one hand on the wall and placing his other around his engorged cock, he began to think about her beautiful smile. Then he began to imagine how he could make that smile bigger by teasing her with his head, slipping it between her folds and past her clit. He wanted to see her eyes beg him for more, hear his name escaped her throat. Sandor wanted to hold her, please her, make her fall apart in his arms. He moaned loudly as he released into the running water of the shower. He breathed deeply and rinsed himself off once more before shutting off the water.

His head against the tile Sandor enjoyed his moment of satisfaction, before it became clear to him that something was happening outside the house. He hadn't heard it before because of the water but now, when it was silent, he heard two people fighting. Once voice was clearly Sansa's the other, a man's he could not place. 'Now it gets a little interesting.' he mused to himself as he grabbed the nearest towel. Sandor shook his head when he realized that the towel was just wide enough to wrap around his waist, but not wide enough cover everything completely. This left a huge slit on the side, reaching from the bottom of the towel, that only came to his mid thigh anyway, up to his hip. 'Fucking great.' he thought as he opened the bathroom door so that the voices would become clearer.

"I've already told you Joffery, no! Get off my property, we are not talking about this now." Sansa's voice was strained and angry.

"Oh come on sweet thing. You know you'll have to give in sooner or later. It's mine whether you admit it or not." The voice of the man gave Sandor the feeling that he was a sniveling spoiled brat, about 5 ft. 8in blonde and as smooth as a Ken doll. He made his way slowly down the hall and turned toward the main door, where all the commotion was coming from. Sansa stood in the doorway, her back to Sandor, blocking any view of the little prick standing outside. Her body was tense, angry and perhaps even a bit scared. He'd have to diffuse the situation one way or another.

"What in the hell are you talking about?" She yelled, not hearing the big man in a towel walking up behind her. "This is all mine, we've been over this 1000 times Joff. Over my dead bo…" Sansa paused when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and the strong tug of a man pulling her close to him.

"I heard some yelling little bird, sounds like there's a little prick out here with sand in his mangina." A smirk flew across Sandor's scarred face as he saw the prissy young man in front of him and he knew he had sized him up correctly. This Joffery guy was nothing but a sniveling excuse for boy, trying to be a man but failing in a catastrophic way. What Sandor hadn't expected was how easily Sans fell in line with the whole charade, running her hand up his hairy chest and kissing him playfully on the lips. Happy he'd relieved most of his tension in the shower, he took a moment to taste her sweet lips. They were honey in his mouth and tender on his tongue.

When she did finally end the kiss she had a naughty little smirk on her face, the kind that made a man weak in the knees. "I thought you were going to enjoy your shower pumpkin. Joff was just leaving actually." She turned to the stunned young man in front of her.

"So you can't have me, so now you're dating Quasimodo?" The young man spat with anger. "Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that?"

Sandor had taken in the situation and saw his two big 'friends' sitting in the car and knew this was a bit more than an angry ex spat. 'The boy has goons, and brings them to threaten her?' Sandor pondered this a moment as he decided his next move.

"Don't make me get the shotgun." Sansa warned, trembling a bit in Sandor's arms. "I have every right to shoot you, especially after what you did to my dog, after you killed Lady."

"She attacked me you bitch." He screamed, with a sort of hot headed rage that reminded Sandor of his older brother.

"You were…" Sansa began before Sandor stepped in.

He knew how to handle men who thought they were alpha dogs, stepping in front of Sansa, puffing up to his full size, straining the towel that threatened to fall from his waist. "I suggest you and your friends leave now, before I rearrange your face." Sandor's threat was low, only for the three of them to hear.

"Don't look over at your friends. By the time they make it here, you'll be as pretty as me I assure you." Sandor warned, muscles tensed and veins pumping.

The boy considered something for a moment then turned and left. Sandor could hear Sansa sigh in relief as he turned to her, worry lines on her face. "Thanks." She said cupping the scarred side of his face in one hand, "I wish I could say that I would have handled that better on my own, but I'm not sure. You didn't have to…"

"What was that?" Sandor interjected.

"My ex. There's a lot of bad blood now, and..." Sansa just shook her head and looked down at the floor.

Sandor grabbed her gently around the shoulders and took her chin in his hand, "How about you tell me all about it over dinner?"

She searched his eyes for something, Sandor couldn't be sure for what, then that huge grin came across her face again. "That sounds fine. But change out of that towel otherwise I'm not going to be able to take you seriously."

HIs confused look spurred her on, "I can't tell a story when I'm wondering what's under that little thing the whole time." She said with a wink and a cheeky grin.

"Aye." He said as he eyes lingered on hers. For as much as he wanted to just drop the towel and let her explore all she wanted, Sandor wasn't that kind of man. He'd never been aggressive or forward with women he didn't pay for. Perhaps it was his looks, he didn't want to scare a woman off or get in an odd situation, so he always waited her her to make the first move. He prayed to any god that would listen, hoping that Sansa wasn't just all talk - that she had some action behind those long hungry stares and her cute flirtatious words as he went back to Rob's room to put on some fresh jeans and a T-Shirt.


It was nice to sit at a dinner table with an actual home cooked meal. It was even better to share it with the young lady in front of him. But Sandor's mind wasn't on the steak and salad in front of him, it was with his red-headed host.

"Well, my daddy and Joff's daddy were the best of friends. They served in the military together, then bought up a bunch of land and business around here. They made money and life was good." She took a swig of her beer before continuing, "As we grew up, our daddies were thrilled that Joff and I were attracted to one another and had started dating."

Sandor nodded, wondering how she could ever love a creep like that. "Long story short, Joffrey's father died under some strange circumstances. That meant that all the joint properties him and my daddy owned together, were now all in question. There was no will, no succession and so Joff jumped in with lawyers and did all that he could through legal and illegal means to get the business and lands from my dad. Shops would suddenly burndown, crops would be destroyed and legal challenges to our ownership were happening." Sansa paused slightly, letting her emotions quiet down, "So finally daddy drove south to Joff's ranch to talk with him about what was going on. He believed he was a good guy, as I did. He hoped for a gentlemen's resolution on the whole issue."

She was tearing up now, Sandor knew something big was about to be revealed, "We don't know what happened to this day. Only that there was an argument and daddy died in a car accident." She inhaled deeply, "It was just so odd, it would have never happened to him. They say the breaks went out in his car, but I knew he kept that car in perfect condition. There would have been no reason to think otherwise."

"You think he did it?" Sandor said, addressing the elephant in the room.

Tears rolled down Sansa's face, "I don't know for sure, but I know he had something to do with it. My sister Arya is so sure, she ran for sheriff a year back and won. Now she is doing her own investigation any chance she gets." Sansa looked toward Sandor, her blue eyes filled with sadness, "It destroyed our family. My mother committed suicide, Rob overdosed on drugs…I guess we all handle grief differently. Bran disconnected from the world so now it's me and my sister doing what we can for the family."

The pictures on the wall were a testament to how happy the family had been, Sandor could only feel sorry for Sansa. He had never had a family like hers, loving and caring. There had only been hate and pain, he carried this with him because all his life he had to. She carried this with her too, even though it had not been her true destiny.

"And what happened with your dog?" Sandor asked.

"Well he came shoving fake papers in my face, trying to get me to give up the service station and garage. Things got out of hand and Lady bit him."

Sandor could tell she was some of the more important parts out. Reaching across the table and resting his hand on her wrist he said, "Did he lay a hand on you?" It was clear, and direct.

Sansa closed her eyes in pain, turning them away from Sandor's. She simply nodded.

"Well don't you worry. If he comes around here again, he'll have to deal with me." Her eyes met his in this moment, he could see the appreciation and relief in them.

"Thank you Sandor." She said quietly. He could tell she hated crying, that she didn't want to show weakness. He found it rather refreshing, that somebody who had been a complete stranger only a few hours before, could be baring her heart to him now. Giving him an insight and comfortable closeness he had not been able to have with other people.

They picked up the dishes in silence and said goodnight. In Rob's room Sandor stripped off this clothes leaving just his tight fitting speedo cut briefs on for bed.

"Sandor here's another blanket if you need something warmer…" he knew she was standing in the door frame without having to turn around. She'd stopped mid sentence and was staring at him, with a kind of enticed surprise he had not experienced before. Her eyes took in the curves of his body, the lines of his muscles, the side bulge that was apparent in underwear like that.

"Thanks." He began, "Something strike your fancy little bird?" It was a half playful and half a serious question. Sandor willed her to bridge the gap between them, push him on the bed and ride him has hard as he did his motorcycle. When she didn't respond he just grinned. "Good night." Was all that passed his lips as he made his way under the covers.

It didn't take long for him to find a comfortable position and slowly drift off into sleep, wondering what the fuck he had gotten himself into.