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Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Summary:

“Listen, girl,” Sandor barked at her through the phone, Jon and Tormund completely fine with sitting back and letting the two of them go at it.

Sansa interrupted, “It’s Sansa, or Miss Stark, actually.” Who did he think he was calling her ‘girl’, she wasn’t some petulant child.

Sandor growled, “Listen, Sansa."

Notes:

Thanks for such an awesome response to chapter 1!
Now, cue Sandor!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

PICSET

Sandor groaned while reading the follow up email from non other than Sansa Stark on Sunday morning.

Good Morning Mr. Clegane,

I am following up on the email I sent on Wednesday regarding the financial statements from last quarter. If you could reply as soon as possible I would appreciate it. I would also like to meet on Thursday to review your submitted budget for the new Reed Keep development, Jon and Tormund as well.

Thank you,

Sansa Stark

Sandor roughly closed his laptop and pushed it aside on the counter. This is why he went into business for himself, he fucking hates answering to anyone who isn’t the client. Especially little girls who only got the job because it’s daddy’s name on the door.

It hadn’t been his choice to sign onto Stark Developments, and even though the firm was given a lot of freedom within their contracts, they were still required to review financial statements with a member of the Stark team. Sandor liked Davos, blunt and to the point. Then they brought on Sansa Stark.

Sandor was a hard man, he knew he was, stubborn and difficult but he worked hard for everything he had. Tormund and him had built The Wall Contracting from the ground up, starting with basement renos and odd jobs. The last thing he had any interest in doing is sitting in a room with a stuck-up rich girl who had something to prove.

Ned was decent enough, as a CEO of a large enterprise he was surprisingly more relaxed than one would assume. He expected perfection and was far from a push over, but he cared about his employees and he cared about the clients. Robb alright to, young and ambitious but even he was a bit pretentious.

He liked Jon quite a bit, which was good considering they reported directly to him. He was quiet, reserved but smart. He respected where Sandor and Tormund came from, Sandor suspected he had hardships growing up as well, he never spoke of his parents and he was raised by his uncle. Arya was just wild and crude, Sandor liked her the best, she was quite the spit fire. She didn’t give a shit and Sandor could connect with her on that.

He had met most of the Stark’s by now, all except Sansa Stark. When he had gotten her email about being the new financial point person for commercial development, he googled her. She seemed smart enough, having graduated with a masters from Dorne University. It wasn’t hard to get good grades and focus only on school when you have Daddy paying your bills and credit card for you though but even he was impressed that she graduated top of her class. His distain for her only grew when he stumbled upon her Instagram. She was beautiful. He didn’t have an issue with beautiful woman, he had been with pretty girls in the past, but her feed was littered with beautifully poised photos and it bothered him.

Sandor groaned and sat down on the stool, reluctantly he opened his laptop and looked over Sansa’s questions, it was Sunday and he knew he should get back to her by Monday morning, especially since she had scheduled a meeting for Thursday afternoon. He may be pissed about it, but he was still a professional.

---

Sansa was furious, absolutely furious. She had gotten Sandor’s reply on Monday, it was short and to the point and she had given the benefit of the doubt that maybe he just didn’t enjoy emailing or maybe she was reading too much into his snappy reply. She wasn’t.

Jon and Tormund were in her office, Sandor had emailed Jon that there was an issue at one of the sites and he would need to dial in. Sansa bit her tongue although it drove her nuts that he hadn’t emailed her directly.

Sansa was standing, leaning against the windowsill looking angrily at her phone. This man was simply crass, difficult and rude. They had gone way over budget on supplies for the last project and it was Sansa’s job to have a reasonable explanation as to why. Not for her, not even for her father, but to satisfy the board. She wasn’t being difficult, but he sure as hell was. Not that he was being particularly vicious, but he didn’t try to cover his annoyance with her either.

“Listen, girl,” Sandor barked at her through the phone, Jon and Tormund completely fine with sitting back and letting the two of them go at it.

Sansa interrupted, “It’s Sansa, or Miss Stark, actually.” Who did he think he was calling her ‘girl’, she wasn’t some petulant child.

Sandor growled, “Listen, Sansa . The materials we originally quoted were no good.”

Sansa cut him off again, “You keep saying that, but no good how? No good isn’t going to satisfy the board. Were they defective?”

“No.”

“Were they the wrong material?”

“No.”

Sansa tossed her hands in the air, god this man is arrogant. “What then? What was no good about them that you went 7% over budget?”

“They were just no good, fucking shit quality. Could I have used em’, yeah probably but your warranty numbers in 6 months would have been through the roof. I’ll tell you what, Miss Stark , in 6 months when your warranty budget is 7% under budget, you can apologize.” Sandor barked at her, a smugness to his voice that drove her crazy. He knew that he was getting to her, and that was a catalyst for him to continue.

This time Sansa growled, “Well, while I hope that’s the case, Mr. Clegane but I doubt very much that the board is going to be happy that we hope to see a return in 6 months.”

“I don’t give a fuck if they’re happy or not, I’m not going to compromise the development with shit materials.”

“I’m not asking you to!” Sansa rarely let herself lose her cool with a colleague, but this man was infuriating. Even more infuriating because she kept getting distracted by the incredibly sexy rumble to his voice.

“Listen here, girl,” he stopped mid sentence and Sansa heard muffled voices on the other end. “I have to go, I will write an email explaining why we went with the other material to appease your board, okay?” he snapped.

“Again, my name is Sansa, and fine but do me a favour this time? Be sure to email it to me and not Jon.” Sansa forcibly ended the call.

Jon and Tormund said nothing, but their faces gave them again, their lips pursed tightly and Tormund near shaking while trying to control himself. Sansa sighed and turned around to look out the office window. “Oh, let it out then.” She said, and laughter invaded her office. She knew they would have jumped in his Sandor was being completely unreasonable, and maybe Sansa was too frustrated to understand the humour in the situation.

She didn’t technically need to be given an office, but she appreciated her father doing so since she wasn’t closing on her house for a week. Sansa stared out the office windows overlooking Westeros while Jon and Tormund composed themselves.

Sansa turned when the snickering had receded, “you two finished?”

Tormund wiped a tear from his eye and looked at Jon, “Well shit, this is gonna be a fucking blast Johnny Boi!” He turned to look at Sansa, “I have seen very few people get that deep under Sandor’s skin, but you’ve managed to fuck yourself nice and deep in there.” He started laughing again.

Sansa wrinkled her nose at Tormund’s crass language, “well, that’s a very… colourful way to put it, Tormund,” he smiled proudly at her, “but I don’t know what I did!”

Jon stood, “he’ll come around, Sansa. He’s good at what he does, really good, they both are. He’s just gruff, and you haven’t gotten to know his tone yet. That’s just Sandor, he barks at everyone”

Sansa huffed, “but I wasn’t questioning his ability to do his job, Jon. I was just questioning the numbers. Which is my job, by the way.” She had dealt with plenty of jerks. Men who don’t respect her because she’s young, pretty and a girl, who try to railroad her because they are stronger. She had dealt with it enough, she sure as hell wasn’t going to lay down and take it at work.

“Ahh darlin’, don’t take it personally. Sandor doesn’t love answering to people who haven’t earned his trust and his respect, those aren’t freely given with Sandor.” Tormund stood and left Sansa’s office, leaving Sansa to seethe by herself.

Respect may be earned, but professional curtesy should be freely given,

Sansa grumbled as she went back to work. As the day passed, Sansa was no less irked by Sandor Clegane and she couldn’t shake her annoyance with him. She didn’t demand respect, and sure as hell didn’t demand trust. If anyone had a reason not to trust people, it was Sansa but never had she dealt with such a crude, unprofessional human being. With a voice like a Greek god, Sansa shook her head. No, no. He was rude and incorrigible; Sandor Clegane was NOT going to be a Sansa Stark fantasy.

---

By the time Saturday rolled around, Sansa was tired. It had been one hell of a week. Starting a new job was always exhausting, but Sansa had been pouring over financial statements and budgets for all the current and upcoming commercial developments, trying to gain some traction before the quarterly board meeting in a couple weeks.

As promised, she had Sandor’s email by early Friday morning. It was amazing how polite and professional he could sound when he wasn’t speaking with her. Sansa scoffed, recalling his polite explanation in the email. Would it have been so difficult to have just spoken to her that way?

Sansa knew dealing with Sandor would be a rocky road until they came to some mutual understanding about the appropriate way to communicate with each other. Not that Sansa couldn’t handle it, she could. She knew her stuff and was good at her job, she just hadn’t been prepared for it.

Margaery had texted Sansa Friday about going out Saturday night. Just old friends and her siblings, Margaery had promised. Sansa wasn’t thrilled with the idea of going out, she just wanted to curl up with a pint of Hagen Dazs and Game of Thrones on the TV, but even she knew going out wouldn’t be the worst idea.

It had been a long time since she had just gone out with friends and enjoyed herself, and she worked hard this week, she deserved it. She agreed and headed over to Margaery’s place to get ready.

“So, I really want to hookup with that construction worker,” Margaery said casually as they finished getting dressed.

Sansa nearly spit out her drink she sputtered, “What? Why?” Margaery shot her a shot, “No, I didn’t mean it like that, but that never used to be your type... Also, which one?”

“Bronn, and I know. But I’ve done the pretty boy thing, plus aren’t you curious? Those boys are hugee , Sans. Don’t you wonder if that includes their fun bits?” she winked at Sansa.

Sansa rolled her eyes, “really, Margaery?” Suddenly it dawned on her, “Margaery… who else is coming tonight?”

Margaery sheepishly looked away and Sansa twirled to face her, “no! no, no no! You didn’t!” Margaery smiled and Sansa groaned, “you invited them, all of them? Please tell me all of them doesn’t include Sandor Clegane.”

Margaery smiled and shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know for sure that he’s coming…”

Sansa huffed, “ughhh, the last thing I wanted tonight was to hang out with Sandor Clegane. The guy is a jerk, Marg!”

Margaery came over to Sansa and put her arms on her shoulders, “I’m sorry! It was the only way I could get Bronn to come and Sansa, I realllly realllly need to get laid!”

Sansa exhaled and shot Margaery an incredulous look, “You owe me! Big time!”

Margaery squealed, “Oh yay! Also, if he doesn’t show you don’t have to worry about it and if he does,” Margaery spun Sansa towards the full-length mirror, “if he does, you look fucking hot!”

Sansa had finally settled on a pair of high waisted jeans and a white bralette and her leather jacket. It was a little riskier than Sansa usually dressed, but she was single, and she looked good!

---

A few hours later and a whole lot of drinks and Sansa was surprisingly having a really great time. All her siblings had come out, with their significant others, a few other friends from high school and the contractors, sans Sandor, which was the best part.

Sansa was really beginning to like the newbies in the group, she figured the change of scenery was probably at their influence, they were really the type of guys to fit in at posh boujee clubs. Tormund was even more crude with a few drinks in him, but Sansa did eventually get used to it, she didn’t like it, but she stopped caring as much. Luckily for Margaery, Bronn seemed just as interested in her and she was in him, the two of them off in their own little world. Drogo had brought his girlfriend Dany, she was a little fiery but sweet, and so tiny compared to Drogo he basically devoured her.

She turned from the bar after grabbing another drink and was headed back to the group when she walked right into a wall, or at least what felt like a wall. She sighed, realizing the contents of her drink were spilled all over the floor.

“Watch where you’re going.” Came the rumble of a voice in front of her.

Sansa shook her head, “Sorry, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention, clearly,” she laughed nervously and looked at the man standing in front of her. He was huge. Sansa could see the way his shirt stretched across his muscular chest, he had a short beard and Sansa could see scars on the right side of his face. He was handsome, but not in a usual way, just in a really freaking hot way. “Did I spill your drink, I can buy you another o-”

The man cut her off, “Quit your chirping, girl.”

“My name is San..” no, no freaking way, that voice.

“Sandor! My main man!” Drogo came bounding over. “you made it!” Sandor held out his hand to Drogo and pulled him in for a hug. Drogo looked at Sansa with an amused look on his face, “I see you’ve finally met Sansa.”

Sandor looked at Sansa and unapologetically looked her up and down before taking a pull from his beer, “so it would seem.”

Sansa narrowed her eyes, “the appropriate greeting would be, hello.”

Sandor hummed in response, she saw his lip quickly tilt upwards. He was teasing her and it bothered her, “is that so?”

Sansa was annoyed, this man, this arrogant arrogant man. “Yes, normally that’s a usual response when meeting someone for the first time.”

Sandor gave a small, smug smile and shrugged, “okay,” he turned and walked away.

Sansa was left stunned; did he just walk away from her?

---

Of all his fucking luck to run, literally, into Sansa Stark at the bar. He obviously couldn’t acknowledge who she was, what was he supposed to say, ‘ya I googled you, I know who you are’. No, that wouldn’t be happening.

He knew she would be there tonight, Bronn had told him when he called. He’s all hot and heavy for Sansa’s friend and told him it would be fun. Sandor had every intention of not showing up tonight, he had no interest in seeing Sansa quite yet, not following their conversation on Thursday. But the fuckers wouldn’t leave him be, texting him all fucking day until he agreed.

Watching Sansa get flustered and eye him up like a piece of meat what interesting though, girls like her usually goes for pretty boys and not ugly old dogs with fucked up faces, although she hadn’t looked to closely at his face and was mostly looking at his body, which was in peak physical condition he would admit. Partially from his job, mostly just because he enjoyed working out and being healthy.

The woman got flustered at the drop of a hat and watching her annoyed scowl when he didn’t immediately greet her was entertaining. Spoiled rich girl was clearly used to rich boys raised with perfect manners. He had manners, he held doors and he was respectful but something about Sansa, god the woman made him rage. He knew he was toying with her, but hell if he had to spend the next 12 months answering to her, he may as well get some amusement out of it. He actually enjoyed going toe to toe on Thursday and ruffling her feathers, and hated that it was cut short due to a problem at the site. She could hold her own at least, he'd give her credit for that.

He watched as she sauntered over to Margaery, clearly still aggravated by their previous interaction he watched as she expressively told Margaery something, their meeting he assumed. He rolled his eyes, such a brat he mused. A hot brat . She was beautiful, possibly one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, tall but still tiny compared to him with legs that went on for days. She knew she was though, and that drove Sandor crazy, her tight jeans and little top, he hadn’t even been in the bar 10 minutes and he had caught man after man leering at her.

Drogo clapped a hand on his shoulder, “My man, did you need to be such an ass?”

Sandor looked up and saw Tormund and Bronn shaking their heads. “I wasn’t as ass.”

Tormund snorted, “I’m sure you were. What do you got against the she wolf? She’s not bad, smart, pretty, nice.”

Sandor shrugged, “don’t like people who think they are worth more because of how much money Daddy puts in their accounts.”

“You like all the other Starks,” Drogo said.

Bronn nearly choked on his beer, “no fucking shit, you think she’s hot. That’s why you’re such an asshole. Like a bully picking on his crush at school.”

Sandor shook his head, “Fuck off, no I don’t. She’s hot, yeah, you’d all say the same. She’s stuck up, the other Stark’s aren’t.”

Sandor looked back over to Sansa, she was laughing now with some nerdy looking kid he didn’t know, he watched her arch her back slightly when she laughed which accentuated her curves. He swallowed as he listened to her laugh prettily and give this chump a blinding smile. No, he definitely didn’t like Sansa Stark, and even if he was attracted to her she would never like an old dog like him.

Notes:

Thoughts and comments make me happy, so leave em below if you'd like!

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