Choking On Sapphires

24 Every So Often

The sun is starting to fall behind a line of hills, the dying light casting spots of lights through the long windows in your dance hall. You're practicing your routine for the show to reel in the big fish. You have two large ostrich feather fans, that you had seen at the shows in Paris with the near starkers dancing girls and you'd always been a fan. Never danced yourself, but you'd always wanted to.

You have a multi-layered outfit. Currently, you're in the nudest layer, which only looked risque you thought. A tight corset, perfectly matched color to your skin tone. Same tone small bottoms that grazed ever so perfectly over the swell of your bum. All of it satin and delicately decorated in lace, adorned with rhinestones. A sheer robe, disguised as a long flowing dress would start the routine but be removed very shortly after you begin. Under it, a small feather wrap around your hips to match the fans you were delicately spinning about your body. You're scooting about in your sparkling heels, practicing your turns in the large mirror to the beat of the song you'd chosen.

"Mr. Solomons!" Aggie calls out before she enters the study.

"Yes, what do you need of me miss?" he charmingly smiles up at her from his desk.

"Genevieve has been upstairs all afternoon and I'm having a bit of a situation in the kitchen. Would you mind terribly to do an old woman's knees a favor and fetch her for tea?" she lightheartedly implores.

"Don't be silly, Agatha." he says, shutting his book and placing his hand on her shoulder as he leaves the room. "I'll go fetch our Genny." he says, head ducking and heading up the stairs.

"Thank you so much dearest!" she shouts back, heading back towards the kitchen slowly. She watches him go up the stairs and lets out a heavy sigh. She hoped this might be the straw that broke the camels back. That camel being Alfie and the straw being your dancing. There was nothing going on in the kitchen, her knees weren't even bothering her today, she just wanted to make sure he saw you in that little outfit before you changed for dinner.

He pads down the corridor, hearing saucy jazz float towards him from the dance hall. He realizes you must have stayed upstairs all day to practice your routine for the upcoming job. He thought it all a bit much just to murder the annoying bastard but you had seemed excited at the prospect. He had been purposely ignoring your wing when he knew you were practicing. After his flub of gawking at you too closely for too long at the barn, feeling much like an adolescent, he honestly hadn't wanted to invite the frustration into his life again so eagerly. But here he was, doing favors and punishing himself needlessly. He already found you distractingly attractive, particularly as of late, and he knew that seeing whatever you were working on wasn't going to help keep him from sinning while thinking about you.

He hears your heels tapping and dragging across the floor as he stands against the wall by the door. He hears you swear and giggle, sometimes you'd sing but you seemed to be concentrated on the dancing. He takes a deep breath, thumbing his nose before his hunched shoulders lead the way into the doorway. He softly exhales at the sight of you. What had he done to deserve this? He thought to himself.

"Aggie's callin' ya for tea, sweetheart." he says, looking around the studio. You respond first with a small, startled jump that elicits a tiny girlish gasp from you that makes his jaw tense.

"You startled me," you say with a chuckle. "Is it that late already?" you ask, the fans still in place over your body.

"'Spose it is." he says with a nod.

"Do we have time for me to show you what I've been working on?" you ask with big, excited brown eyes and a charming smile.

"Well, it's time for tea innit?" his tone makes the words both statement and question.