Teasing

3rd POV

Seeing Caruso flustered brought a smile to Aila's face. She could not help thinking that men were cute when at a loss. She was generally very nice but had a tendency to tease people. She found that feeling while a little fun, it was more empowering. Aila felt nothing like that, knowing it was her who had the control over their expressions was simply . . . Addictive.

Teasing has led Aila down some rabbit holes. She wasn't a promiscuous girl, so she had played the line of what she was comfortable with many times. While Aila played, she crossed and pushed her own line quite often, even if she had gotten the response she wanted she would want more. Greed is natural for an addiction.

Caruso was one of her favorite types. He easily expressed on his face but he would never be inappropriate. At the thought of this situation, Aila knew she might push things a bit far and be safe to do so as this man here would not cross any boundaries unless she told him to. It was a running theme in this world for men to respect the few females in there was, she recognized this and was going to take advantage.

It wasn't easy to endure the silence for Caruso. He felt so awkward and was afraid he was in trouble. Aila didn't know what bothered him so she started with.

"What seems to be the problem?"

Caruso proceeds to blurt "It's just that I need to measure . . .this area" Seeing that he had gestured to his chest she holds back a laugh.

Aila smiles and pushes " I'm gonna need you to be a little clearer about what it is you need."

Caruso begins to compose himself "Oh I have never made clothes to fit someone who had curves like yours and I've been trying to avoid touching you when I can. Your figure itself is obscured to me by the loose garments that your wearing."

Carso being composed now means she needs to push harder since what she really wants is to fluster him.

"Hmm seems innocent enough of an issue, but how do you plan to solve this"

She doesn't truly think so, but saying it could imply it might have been less than innocent and she had thought it was innocent despite that, portraying trust while leading his thoughts to be inappropriate. Caruso is a smart man he could think of the implications and when he thinks about his intentions he can't say they were pure, so the guilt creeps up on him.

Caruso still has to think of a way to fix the problem. " I have other clothes I could give you but the would likely still be too big . . ."

"What kind of clothing were you thinking to make me" Aila is beginning to wonder if he is seeing her the way she thought he was, or if he was simply flustered and thus she starts to probe with her questions.

"I'm unsure. I have never seen the shape so I don't know if I simply need to make allowances of provide a new style of clothing"

Caruso knew how to answer this. Aila is a bit lost, it strikes her just how little this man knows about women. It brings her back down to the situation at hand.

"Well it is not like it has a very specific shape, what with the way they squish." Aila pushed against her chest to demonstrate and saw Caruso's eyes being drawn there. 'Innocent but not unaffected' was her evaluation of Caruso

"So making an allowance in shirt shouldn't need to be too precise, but I would like something separate as it can get hot and sweaty and often they move about." Aila put her hands on her shirt and lifted. "Something to hold them would be good. I definitely want fabric around my ribs here."

Caruso could feel his mouth be a bit dry. His unconscious licking of his lips and swallowing did not escape Aila's eyes. "Would it help to be able to have my clothes tight around me" Aila removed her hands and brought the shirt tight around her gathering it at her side.

When looking over at Caruso she sees his dazed look. "Does this help?"

Caruso is struggling, he has never felt more unprofessional. He has a customer, one of high status in front of him and he can't concentrate. He isn't some young man going through his growth spurt. He had long since been able to cast aside such things in the pursuit of his craft, and yet here he was. She was being kind enough to try and help, and he can't even think straight.

Aila pointing at her chest. "Just like any other chest there are center points to these as well"

She was trying to tease more and while he was fascinated and oddly sweaty, Caruso still had a job to do as a tailor. This sentence sparked inspiration in Caruso. Even with Caruso's distraction and Aila's teasing the measurement did get done largely due to Caruso's method of cutting and saving the measurements a a predetermined order. Once he moved on from the chest he sped up his pace to avoid anymore awkward unprofessional scenarios.

Seeing that he went from flustered to almost afraid it killed Aila's urge to tease so she sat back and let him continue in peace.

As soon as the last measurement was done Caruso took a sigh of relief he then left Aila to resituate herself as he grabbed a shape form and brought it to the room. Using pins he placed the measurements from the last sting to the first on the shape form. It didn't fit on perfectly but often the pins were simply placed on the very end of the strings.

Aila just sat down as she watched him work. He took more structured cloth out of his shelving and began to measure and cut it to the shape that he needed. He worked fast and had zoned in on his work.

Aila, not having much to do now that there was no entertainment often found herself appreciating the men around her work. There always was that saying,' a hard working man is an attractive man'. Looking at Caruso work she couldn't help but recall this saying. She found that although his hands were not the muscular working hands that Tony had they were strong and knew how to work the materials that were in them.

Caruso dressed well as to be expected of a tailor, and all his clothes seemed to have just enough space for him to move the way he needs to move pushed to their limits but accentuating him in the process. He was an older man but definitely more of a silver fox. Alia had no idea how old he was but he was an unforgettable face.

Aila was watching his hands run across the fabric and his arms in the rolled up sleeves as he seemed to work in double speed. The cutting done before she had time to notice he had pulled two more rolls of fabric and those had been cut as well and he had moved on to assembling the pieces. Caruso now facing Aila as he threaded his needle, his blue gray eyes came into full display. Aila was captivated by those eyes and as the needle bobbed in and out of the cloth she waited for the thread to run out so those stormy eyes would once again come out in full force.

When Caruso put the needle away Aila felt a wave of disappointment roll through her. Caruso pulled out several small pieces of metal and put them in order with some of the fabric and then tapped at it with a hammer. He did the in several places and in different orders. As a finishing touch he added cotton padding in several places.

Caruso saw that he was almost done with this draft and lifted each piece up one by one to inspect them.