Cat And Mouse

Auri walked into the French red building with a new determination. She went to the reception as she glanced down at the screen of her phone. She was not late. She was a few minutes early.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully to the receptionist who was looking at the screen of the computer hidden behind the rise of the desk.

He looked up and he smiled at her in recognition.

"Well, hello there!" he sang and Auri's smile became more genuine.

His flamboyance was something to smile at.

"How can I help you today?" he asked her.

"My name is Aurelie Engel," she told him, "I'm supposed to have a fitting in ten minutes."

He nodded as she spoke.

 "Third floor there will be directions on the board right across the elevators," he immediately responded with a proud smile on his face.

"Thank you!" Auri said and quickly trotted towards the elevators.

"You're welcome," the receptionist said as he went back to his work.

Auri did not hear him. He did not shout and she was already halfway to the elevators.

She noticed that the elevator call button was on and several people were waiting there too. One had a box that was filled to the brim with files. Another had a cup of coffee in one hand and was looking intently at the phone in another. They were both dressed in their office smarts. Pencil skirts and white blouses.

The elevator dinged as it arrived and Auri along with the two girls stepped on. She pressed the button to the third floor and then looked at the girl with the box.

"What floor are you going to?" she asked her.

"Twenty-third," the girl responded and Auri pressed the button.

"Same," the girl with the coffee said and Auri nodded in acknowledgement.

She watched as the doors slid shut and the elevator began to climb to her floor. When it reached the third floor, it stopped, and the speakers dinged.

Auri stepped off and immediately saw the board she was directed to. She saw the directions to the main fitting room and a smile stretched her lips. She followed the directions and found the fitting room. The door was ajar. There was a dark-haired middle-aged woman inside who was sorting through pieces of clothes on a rack. She was wearing a rumpled black power suit and her hair was in a messy bun that was secured by a pen. Auri let her hand cross the threshold and let the knuckle of her pointing finger knock on the door. The woman turned her head and saw Auri.

"Who are you?" the woman asked her.

"Aurelie Engel," Auri said as she hesitantly crossed the threshold, "I have a fitting today."

"Oh, come in," the woman said as she went to her desk.

She reached for the computer mouse and clicked around her sharp gaze on the screen. A frown slowly appeared on her face.

"Spell out your first name for me," she said.

"A-U-R-E-L-I-E, Aurelie and then E-N-G-E-L Engel."

The woman tapped at her keyboard and then her frown cleared and she looked at Auri. There was a curious light in her eyes.

"You have a fitting but it's not with me," she said, "Go to the fitting room at the end of the hall, Mr Leroux will be with you then."

Auri's face reflected her shock. Nicolas was a busy man. Why was he overseeing her fitting himself? She glanced at her watch and decided she needed to get moving.

"Thank you," she told the woman and walked out of the room. She felt very much like a zombie. Just going through the motions. Nicolas was overseeing her fitting.

Wake up, girl! A voice screamed in her head. This is a chance to get closer to him.

Auri's strides became longer and more deliberate as she walked in the passage. She reached the end of the hall and saw that the door to this room was shut. She knocked.

"Come in!" Nicolas' voice responded and she felt her heart miss a beat.

He was in there.

Oh God, he's in there! She thought frantically.

She took a deep breath and opened the door. She stepped in. The room was bigger than the one she'd just been in. It had more space. There was a screen to one side and a clothes rack to the other. Nicolas was at the rack holding up two dresses. He looked over, met her gaze smiled. That smile would melt the resolve of the most virtuous lady.

He looked delicious. He was in a black shirt with the top two buttons undone. It was tucked into black business slacks and he had black dress shoes on his feet. The colour suited him.

"Come on in," he broke her out of her gawking, "You are early."

"Not earlier than you," Auri said with an embarrassed smile.

Nicolas smiled back gently.

"It's my job to show up before the models," he told her as he lifted the dresses in her direction as if trying to picture her in them, "So I'm on time."

"Go change into this," he shoved a dress into her hands and nodded towards the screen.

Auri nodded and went behind the screen. She dropped her purse on the ground and then pulled the simple black tee shirt she was wearing over her head. She hung the shirt over the screen and then unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans.

"By the way," she called out over the screen, "Why are you doing this fitting? Don't you have other bigger things to do?" she asked.

"You're one of the four models directly under French Red, Nicolas' voice carried across the screen, "We have to take care that your debut is perfect and for that, I will be hands-on."

Auri pushed the jeans down her legs and stepped out of them. She picked them up and threw them over the screen. She then took the dress she'd been given and undid the zipper. She got herself into it. It was a sheer lavender material which was a solid colour at the top but began to be translucent a few inches below her butt and then transparent somewhere midway past her thighs. She held the dress close to her chest and left the zipper at the back undone. She was not going to even try to reach it.

She waited for a bit. Just standing there.

"You're taking too long back there," Nicolas said after a while, "Are you okay?"

"I can't pull up the zipper," she filled her voice with fake hesitation.

"Come out if you want help," Nicolas told her patiently.

Auri mentally fist-pumped and fought down a triumphant grim. She walked around the screen with all big eyes. She was trying for pathetic.

"Turn around," Nicolas told her and she slowly complied.

Nicolas walked to her and could not help admiring her skin. She really had beautiful skin. He grasped the zipper and slowly pulled it up. His knuckles grazed her skin and he heard her breath hitch and saw the muscles underneath quiver. He wanted to do it again.

How would she react if I pressed my lips right there? He wondered. How would her skin feel?

What the actual fuck are thinking about? Another voice brought him back from the edge.

Do you want a sexual harassment suit on you? She's too young and she's an employee for fucks sake!

He forced himself to step back and said, "Okay turn around."

He was glad his voice came out unaffected. Like a blank board of emotion. It was stiff but it was better than the fire burning within him.

Auri turned and saw that his eye was critically looking at the dress a calculating gleam in his eyes. He went to the desk and pulled open a drawer. He came out with a wrist cushion of bobby pins and he secured it around his right wrist as he walked back towards her. He then put one hand on her hip. Auri felt her breath catch in her lungs. She had all her attention on him now but he was not looking at her. He bent down over the spot where his hand was and he pinched the fabric there and began securing it with the pins. She tried to breathe normally.

You're the cat and not the mouse in this game, she reminded herself.

Don't let him affect you this much.

Nicolas moved to the other side of the dress and put some pins into the fabric there as well. He stepped back and surveyed his work.

"Try walking," he said to her.

Auri did as she was instructed walking from one end of the room to the other. Nicolas had his gaze on her. She had a feeling he missed nothing. He nodded.

"Stop," he told her as he went back to the rack.

He pushed hangers around and then settled on one. He pulled out a dress and then walked over to her. He lifted it to her and shook his head. He went back to the rack and pushed the clothes around before swearing. He walked to the desk and he opened a drawer. He reached in and pulled out a scissors. He walked over to Auri and he knelt at her feet. He grasped the hem of the dress and then put it between the blades of the scissors.

Auri marvelled at the ease with which he cut the fabric.

He probably makes this much easier than it is, Auri thought as she looked down at him.

There was an elegance to the way his deft fingers moved, something endearing in the way his face was so focused. He cut a vertical line from the hem of the dress at her toes to the point a few inches below her panty line. He put the scissors on the ground and began pinning fabric at the end of the incision with pins. His face was so close to her skin that she felt his breath on her thigh. His finger brushed her skin and she fought down a shiver.

He picked up the scissors and got up. he took a few steps back and surveyed his handiwork. She looked down at herself. And marvelled at the change. The dress now had a slit and at the top of it, he had made a sort of fabric origami with careful folds of the dress and secured it with pins. It was no wonder he was crowned by the media as a fashion king. He was gifted.

"This will do," there was a satisfied look in his eyes, "It will get amended according to this. Go ahead and take it off."

He indicated to the screen and Auri took the opportunity to turn around and point at her zipper.

"Can you pull it down for me?" she asked over her shoulder as she moved her hair out of the way, "I don't think I can reach it."

Nicolas said nothing but she heard him move and felt his hand grasp her dress. As he zipped the dress, he reviewed her creamy skin. He fought down the impulse to touch it. He felt like a moth drawn to a flame. As he reached the bottom of the zipper, he could see the lining of her lace panties. He wanted to trace his finger over them. He swallowed hard and stepped back.

"Go ahead," he told her gruffly, "Be careful with the pins."

Auri went behind the screen and her face immediately transformed into a smirk. She was not oblivious to his discomfort. It was obvious and she found that she liked it.