Blind sided

[500 Themes: 386]

Barnaby Brooks, Jr. didn't like women.

Most of all, he didn't like loud, aggressive, obnoxious women. If he absolutely had to date a woman, it was a quiet one, reserved and gentle and easy to be around.

And absolutely most of all, he did not like Kaburagi Tetsuko, his far too loud, aggressive, and obnoxious partner.

Even still, his gaze was drawn to her – her near feline features, the fullness of every curve, the way her vest was cut to only emphasize her ample bosom, the sensuous bump of her hips and the lean, but no less powerful sinew cording her thighs. There was also that little flash of skin between black stockings and the clean-cut line of her skirt, cut only by the thin strip of black that was a garter, holding said stockings in place.

Before he knew it, Barnaby's hand had extended, hooked into said garter, and plucked it. It snapped back against her skin and how she jumped was a sight indeed.

Also, Tetsuko's shriek was enough to split his head in half.

"What are you doing?"

What was he doing, indeed? Barnaby couldn't even bring himself to flush, as bewildered by his own actions as he was in that moment. "I – well – "

"Well?"

"It was there!"

"PERVERT!"

Obviously, not a good response on his part. He wanted to sputter out a few more hopelessly flustered things, but in that instant, found himself pummeled back through a wall as Tetsuko activated in the span of a mere second – showing every single one of her veteran years as a hero with such an action, and oh, why was that attractive, too?

Somehow, Barnaby ended up in a pile of rubble within Lloyd's office. Even with his head spinning, his thoughts strayed to how surprisingly soft the woman's skin had been, even with that one, brief little touch.

Lloyd's merely stared at him. "… Do you need a human resources form?" As if this was commonplace. Who was Barnaby kidding – of course it was commonplace at this point.

Barnaby could only sigh.

"No, but Tetsuko is going to want one."

Really, what had his life become?