Martin had had a long day. He'd had a flight with a more-than-usually annoying Douglas, followed by a van job for a grumpy old man, followed by another van job for a rather rude woman. Now he was coming home to his rented attic for a dinner of pasta, before sleeping so he could fly a plane without being paid for it the next morning. He wasn't in the best of moods, and so can be forgiven for not noticing someone was in his room until he actually saw her sitting on his bed.

He blinked twice, confused. There hadn't been a woman here when he'd left – of that he was sure. Who, then, was this, and why was she here?

She smirked at him, eyes roaming over his body, clearly liking what she saw, and making him blush.

She stood up and walked over to him. She held out her hand for him to shake.

"Irene Adler." she purred. Martin awkwardly took her hand, trying to remember if he knew anyone by that name.

"M-Martin Crieff." Her amusement was plain in her eyes as she examined his face.

"Pleased to meet you Martin... very pleased indeed." He glanced away.

"You're very beautiful. Oh g- ... did I just say that out loud? I'm so sorry I didn't mean it in that way well I did but I wasn't hitting on you or anything oh bloody hell." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, meaning he was very surprised when he felt soft fingers stroking his neck. His eyes snapped open and he looked down at Irene in surprise. She was examining his face as her fingers moved up to his hair.

"Hmmmm, I'm not sure whether I prefer it dark or auburn – they're both irresistible in very different ways." If he was honest with himself, Martin wasn't really listening; he was too busy leaning into the touch and letting those talented fingers roam through his hair. Therefore, when he considered the whole course of events later, he felt that the response he gave was justifiable.

"Mmmmehmmmmnummeh." She raised her eyebrows and Martin awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Do you have a girlfriend Martin?"

"No! Oh sorry didn't mean to shout, urm, no." Irene smirked.

"Boyfriend?" Martin managed to choke on air, before gasping a response in the negative.

Irene smiled and leant forward to place a kiss on his cheek, which had Martin blushing again. He barely knew this woman, but he hadn't had a girlfriend for two years, and had already fully displayed his social awkwardness to Irene, which she had viewed with amusement, rather than disappointment or distain. Martin was still confused, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so when Irene kissed his lips he kissed back enthusiastically.

Irene pulled away far too soon for Martin's liking, but she did so in order to speak:

"Let's have dinner." Martin blinked once before responding.

"Are you asking me out on a date? I mean urm oh yes of course you are..." Irene had a placed a finger over his lips, silencing him, so that he could only nod in response. She smirked.

"You're more naive than him. Don't worry – I'll soon fix that." She kissed him again, while working off his jacket and starting to undo the buttons of his shirt. Martin kept to his maxim of not looking the gift horse in the mouth, so didn't protest once.