He who has the gold makes the rules

~Anonymous

Chapter 10

APOV

"Get back here," I mumbled, grabbing at her arm while my face stayed buried in my pillow.

"Let go," she commanded, tugging at my grasp. "I'm serious. Let go."

I groaned and rolled to my side, refusing to do her biding. "Five minutes longer," I pleaded.

"I've been here all weekend," she said with an exasperated sigh. "I hadn't planned on staying all day yesterday, and definitely hadn't planned on spending the night last night." I smiled as I recalled exactly how we'd passed the time. "I need to leave now if I'm going to make it out to Belle Rive by eight."

I looked over her shoulder at the clock, and then back at her. "Princess, it's 5:30. We've got two and a half hours. It only takes forty minutes to get out there."

She tugged at my grip again. "I've got to go back to my hotel. I've got to take a shower."

"You can take one here," I said, sitting up. "We can conserve water, save the planet, take one together."

"Yeah, because that worked out so well for me yesterday, didn't it?" she said, her voice laden with sarcasm.

"If your screams were any indication, then I'd say yeah, it did."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it," she said, pulling her hand free and scooting off the edge of the bed. I watched in admiration as she fumbled around in the darkness looking for the clothes we'd discarded earlier. The woman knew how to wear clothes, but she knew better how to not wear them.

I knew I was ruffling her feathers, but it was too much fun to do anything else. She had every intention of returning to her hotel yesterday morning, and let's just say that I managed to find a way to distract her when I joined her in the shower. Whatever we had, it was too new, too precarious to let her walk out after the night we had. I didn't want her getting back to her hotel and having a whole day to second guess herself. I needed to stay on top her. Literally and figuratively.

It had been easy enough to convince her to stay the day, but harder to get her to spend the night. I had to whip out some ninja shit for that, and I was sure I would be sore for days because of it. But it was worth it. Now we had the work week ahead of us, and after what we did last night, I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to maintain a professional distance.

She pulled on her shirt and skirt when she found them, disregarding the bra and panties that were nowhere to be found – and there was a reason she couldn't find them. "Any idea where my bra is?" she asked.

"No," I said with a grin. I knew where it was, I just didn't feel particularly inclined to tell her. Not when she looked as good as she did without it.

"Convenient," she said with a smirk. "Do let me know if you find it."

"Of course. I can bring it to work if you'd like."

"Now that would be crossing the line of professionalism, don't you think?"

"Princess, just looking at you is going to cross the line of professionalism. Especially after that little trick you showed me last night." And my, what a trick that was. If I was lucky, she'd show it to me again real soon.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I thought we went over this. If you can't behave yourself while we're on the clock, then this," she waved her hand between us, "can't continue."

I sat up in the bed and swung my legs to the side, allowing the sheet to fall behind me as I stood up and walked towards her. "I can behave myself Princess," I said, stopping in front of her. "But I'm not so sure you're going to be able to control yourself around me."`

She crossed her arms over her chest, offering a better view of the cleavage underneath, and rolled her eyes. "I'm the Queen of Restraint," she said.

"You sure about that?"

"Quite," she said with a nod.

"Even if I get up real close," I took a step forward until our bodies nearly touched, "like this?"

I heard her breath catch and smiled. "Or what if I accidentally touch you," I reached out and caressed the side of her face, trailing my hand down to the open neck of her shirt until I reached the bottom of the V. "Like this?"

"Alcide," she said, attempting to control her voice. "We both know there is no need to touch me like that at work."

"Oh, there's a need alright," I said, pulling her against me and showing her just how needy I was.

"Stop twisting my words," she commanded, stepping out of my grasp. "I'm serious Alcide. As much fun as this is, I will stop the minute you cross the line at Belle Rive."

I nodded in understanding. I knew it wouldn't be long before she broke down. There was no way we'd be able to work in close quarters without remembering exactly how well we worked together. I could send the guys off early one day; we could reacquaint ourselves with every surface in Bill Compton's house. It'd be a giant fuck you to Sookie's sentiments about the man if I could get her naked and underneath me again at his house.

"I've got to go," she said again, walking backwards out of my bedroom. She didn't turn around as I followed her, and kept an eye on me the entire way into the kitchen, where she sat down and buckled the straps of her shoes around her ankles. She looked up at me cautiously and shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"You."

"What about me?"

"You're standing there naked as the day you were born, looking like the cat that ate the canary."

"Well, if you're the canary, I'd reckon I would be the cat Princess."

She stood up and shook her head. "Put some clothes on. Go back to bed. Hell, I don't care," she said, walking over to the refrigerator and reaching up to grab her precious notebook. "Just see that you make it in on time. I'd hate to have to get after you for being late."

"You can get after me any time you'd like," I said, walking up behind her and pulling her into my embrace. "One more kiss for the road?"

She looked at me warily. "Just a kiss," she finally said with a nod.

"Mmm hmmm," I responded, lowering my lips to hers. I used everything I had in me to show her exactly what she was going to be missing by instilling her rules. "You drive safe now," I said, pulling away from her entirely. She had a dazed look on her face as she righted herself.

She didn't say another word as she walked out the front door and hopped into her car. Yes, I definitely gave her something to think about.

Three days later and I was up to my knees in shit. Literally.

"What in the hell happened?" I yelled, looking up at the crew standing two feet away from me.

"I think we put too much water in when we were working with the wet saw."

"You think?" I asked, turning my head to avoid the overpowering stench that surrounded my feet. The septic tank hadn't been pumped in God knows how long. We had planned to pump it closer to the end of the project, hoping to avoid the problems that we ran into anyway. "I fucking told you not to put too much water into the system."

"Sorry man," Hoyt said sheepishly. "I'm not used to working with that stuff. If Rene was here-"

"Well he isn't," I interrupted. "Clean this up. Now."

I looked up into the kitchen window and saw Sookie's smirking face looking out at me.

Mother fucker.

I trudged through to the puddle of sludge and made my way towards the main house, kicking out of the knee-high rain boots I'd donned before going to look at the problem. With all the men working on the septic tank, I had a moment to myself. I heard the creek of the screen door and would've known who it was even without the click of the heels on the veranda.

"Little bit of a problem there?" Sookie's voice lilted, full of laughter.

"You could say that," I mumbled, not looking up at her.

"You looked kind of cute out there in your boots," she said, sitting down on the stoop next to me.

"I was standing in a puddle of shit Sookie."

She shrugged and leaned towards me. "I didn't say you smelled good. I said you looked cute."

"Cute?"

"Sexy?" she asked with a smirk. She leaned in further. To the casual observer she looked as if she were going over the project, but we both knew that was the farthest thing from her mind. She'd slipped a little here and there, but then again, so had I. It was difficult working in such close proximity to one another, knowing what we could do together. We'd both managed to maintain the façade well. At least, for now. "What are you doing tonight?" she asked.

"I was supposed to go over to my sister's for dinner."

"Cancel it," she instructed. "I have something I want to show you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. My hotel room. 7:30. Don't be late."

I looked up and noticed that a few of the men were watching us with interest, something that didn't pass by Sookie either. "For God's sake," she said, her voice rising as she stood up. "You smell like shit. Go inside and change your pants. But I swear if you get anything on the floor, it'll be your ass that pays for it." She turned on one delicate heel and made her way inside.

"What a bitch," Malcolm said, walking towards me.

"Yeah," Victor chimed in. "I don't know how in the hell you put up with the way she treats you."

I had a few ideas, but none of which I could share.

"It's part of the job," I said, standing up and dusting off my hands. "I get paid to put up with it."

"Better you than me man," Victor said, taking the seat I'd vacated. "I think I would've snapped already, no matter how well she fills out those little dresses of hers."

"You'd do well to watch your mouth Victor," I practically snarled. The thought of Victor looking at her like that made my skin crawl.

"What?" he asked with an innocent shrug. "She may be a bitch, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to her other attributes."

"She's your boss."

"You're my boss," he countered. "She's just someone Boring Bill Compton brought in to prance about. Why I bet he's just trying to fu-"

"Victor!" I interrupted. "You do not talk about her like that." I didn't want to think about Bill Compton or his motives where Sookie was involved. He'd be an idiot to pass her by, but then again, I'd never thought Bill Compton to be anything more than an idiot. Truth be told, it wasn't his intentions I was concerned about as much as hers. She'd as much as told me what she wanted where he was involved.

"What's your problem?" Malcolm interjected. "What got your panties in a twist?"

"Nothing has 'my panties in a twist' Malcolm. But I expect you to treat Miss Stackhouse with a little respect while you're on the job. The same respect you gave to Russell on the last job."

"Geez, I was just saying-"

"I don't care what you were saying. And last I checked, that fucking tank wasn't going to pump itself." I inclined my head towards the puddle where Hoyt and the other crew members were working. "Get the fuck to work."

Malcolm and Victor looked at me like I was going crazy, and maybe I was. There was only one person that could be blamed for it, and she was standing inside somewhere.

I watched Malcolm and Victor return to the job as I tried to collect my calm. I would have to get it together if I was going to get this job done. I couldn't go flying off the handle when one of the men looked at her crossways. She was an attractive woman. Of course they were going to think so too. The important factor was that I was the one she was fucking, not them.

When I was sure they were back into the job, I turned around and walked inside the house. I unbuttoned my jeans and slipped out of them – hey, I had worked hard on finishing that floor myself; I wasn't about to mess it up. I bunched the denim up in my hands and padded my way towards my work station where I'd tossed my work bag.

"Oh my!" Sookie squeaked behind me. "Where are your pants?"

I turned around slowly. "Right here," I said raising them. "Didn't want to get anything on the floor. Why? Is that a problem?"

"Um," she swallowed, "no. Of course not." Her eyes hadn't traveled above my neck yet. "But I'm fairly sure not wearing pants is an OSHA violation."

I chuckled. "I'm fairly sure it is too. Not to mention a distraction, eh?"

"What?" Her eyes darted up to meet mine, and they were hazy with lust. "Oh, um, yes. A distraction."

I took a step towards her, closing the gap between us. "Would you like me to take the rest off?" I asked, leaning in to nuzzle her neck.

She let out a groan; part frustration, part desire. "Alcide," she whimpered. "Someone will see us."

"They're all busy," I said, running my mouth up to her ear and nipping at the lobe. "Besides, the fear of getting caught is part of the fun."

"No," she said, taking a reluctant step back. "We can't." She shook her head and widened the distance between us. "That was part of the rules."

I shrugged and turned back to pull my extra pants out of my work back, slipping them on before I turned back around. "Rules are meant to be broken Sookie. Someday you'll figure that out. I just hope it isn't too late."

AN: This Alcide has taken over my life. He doesn't want anyone to be written other than him (and a yet-to-be started Eric), much to the chagrin of the Swede and the Cowboy. The Cowboy is on indefinite hiatus... the Swede has a much better way of making me write him. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying Alcide, cause there's a lot more to come!

Thanks to sunkisz for being an awesome beta!