Mai wasn't entirely sure how it happened. Or rather, how she found herself exactly where she found herself.

It had started earlier that evening, she had been about to leave the office when the heavens opened and the rain bucketed down. As she was without an umbrella and convinced that the shower would stop soon, Mai decided to wait it out in the lobby of the office.

It was only when Oliver and Lin came down almost an hour later that she realised that it probably wasn't going to stop.

"Why haven't you gone home?" Oliver asked. "Have you forgotten your address?" He raised an eyebrow at her, but she glared defiantly back.

"No. I was waiting for the rain to stop." She folded her arms and turned away from him.

"I'll see you two love-birds tomorrow." Lin said, sighing as he left.

The two 'love-birds' glared at him, not that he noticed.

"Come on." Oliver said finally. "I will drive you home." Then he threw his jacket over her head to keep her dry and dragged her out of the office lobby by the hand. Mai was honestly too startled to object until she found herself next to his car. Figuring it would be pointless to argue, Mai got in the passenger seat.

Oliver put the car into gear and drove in silence to Mai's apartment block. He drove around the back and parked under the overhang of the building, so that Mai would not get wet.

"Um, thank you." Mai mumbled as she collected her things together. Then mustering all of her courage, she let words blurt out of her mouth. "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?"

If Oliver was surprised by the request, nothing was betrayed by his face, he just nodded.

Mai lead her boss into the building and up to her apartment on the fifth floor, hoping against hope that it wasn't in as messy a state as she thought she had left it earlier that morning.

Her apartment wasn't too untidy. True, her shoes weren't neatly stacked and there were a few dirty bowls waiting to be cleaned but everything else looked respectable enough.

Mai hung Oliver's wet coat on the back of a chair to dry and dumped her work bag by the sofa.

"Please, take a seat." Mai said as she bustled into the kitchen area. The apartment was open plan, apart from the bedroom and bathroom that lead off from the main area. Much to her surprise, Oliver took a seat at the kitchen table, rather than the considerably more comfortable sofa. He watched her busy herself with tea leaves and the kettle and listened to the tuneless humming sound she made.

She finally handed Oliver his cup and took a seat opposite from him.

"It doesn't look like the rain will stop any time soon." Oliver said. Mai looked up at him, slightly started, was he attempting to make small talk? Deciding not to question it, she replied.

"No, it doesn't." She took a sip of her own tea and Oliver mirrored her actions.

"I am thinking of taking a case in Hiroshima next week." Oliver said. "Though I fear that taking the team to somewhere with so many restless spirits might cause more trouble than it's worth; any thoughts?" Mai could feel her eyes widening in shock. He was asking her opinion?!

"Well how serious is the case? Because if people seriously need our help, then we should do it. Perhaps just not ask Masako to join us, if she'd be upset by it. Then again, perhaps it would be an opportunity for her to help some of them." Mai looked back at Oliver, who had a mildly amused expression on his face. "What's so funny?"

"You are." He said, his face returning to it's normal blank state. "You sit there and think of everyone but yourself. You would be affected by dreams of the events too."

"So?" Mai replied, pouting slightly. "I can handle it."

Oliver did not reply.

The pair continued to watch the rain while drinking their tea.

"You could stay for dinner if you like?" Mai asked a minute or so later.

"That would be welcome." Oliver said, not looking away from the pouring rain.

"Are you hungry now?"

Oliver nodded. Mai jumped up from her seat and started rummaging through the fridge for potential meals. She shoved a load of rice in her rice cooker and then started pulling out vegetables and fish, before pausing; Oliver sometimes ate as a vegetarian didn't he?

"Do you want fish or would you prefer vegetarian?"

"Vegetarian if possible. " Oliver replied, his focus still on the rain. Mai returned the fish to the fridge.

She began to slice the vegetables and throw them in a wok that she'd placed on the hob. It wasn't until she felt arms around her that she realised Oliver had moved from his seat.

"What?" She flustered. Yet Oliver did not say anything, but took her hands in his and guided them in cutting a carrot. His technique was slightly different to her own, but it resulted in a much finer cut.

"Isn't that better?" He asked in a low voice that sent shivers down her spine. Mai knew she was blushing at his closeness and the contact of their hands, but she tried her best to ignore it. She also knew that Oliver would be smirking behind her, but she chose to ignore that too.

"Yes." Mai stammered. Oliver realised her hands and watched as she continued; though not as confident without his assistance, but still a vast improvement on her previous technique. Mai felt very self-conscious about her actions as she knew Oliver's gaze was focused on her movements.

"It's a serious case." Oliver said suddenly. "Three people have been hospitalised with strange symbols carved into their body, though they have no recollection of them getting there."

It took Mai a moment to realise what he was talking about.

"What do the symbols look like?"

"They have yet to send me photos, though I said I would not take the case until I have seen them."

"Do you think it has something to do with the bomb?"

"It's possible." Oliver said, as he walked towards a bookshelf on the other side of the room. "The majority of the city was destroyed in the attack; over 90000 people were killed as a result. It would not be out of the realms of possibility that a few of those have lingered and turned sour."

Mai turned on the hob and checked the rice. The horrible thoughts of exactly how those people would have died were forcing themselves through her mind.

"You have an interesting collection of books." Oliver said with a strange inflection on the word 'interesting'.

"What do you mean?" She asked, frowning. She had hidden all of her adult books on the top shelf. Mai could see Oliver pulling a book off said shelf that happened to be exactly at his eye level.

"Seducing the Hunter." He read the title, then flipped the book to read the blurb. "This seems to be about a woman interested in Quinn Strom, an exorcist and broodingly handsome demon hunter." He replaced the book and picked up another. "Reawakened Passions. About a young woman whose neighbour, Jonathon, helps trapped spirits move on." He replaced that book as well. "There seems to be a theme to these books." He turned to face Mai, whose face was a tomato. "I would stir the food if I were you." He said, striding over to the kitchen area. "Never took you for the erotic book type."

Mai briefly wondered if steam was coming out of her ears.

"Could you get some bowls down?" She asked in a small voice, indicating a cupboard.

"Does something about attractive men who work in the area of paranormal events that end up saving innocent young maidens do it for you?" Oliver teased; his face a mask of smugness as he got down bowls.

"Well I can only hope that one day; such a man actually turns up." Mai said as turned to check on the rice again, but Oliver had been standing directly behind her and she now found herself pressed up against him.

"I think finding the innocent maiden will be a harder feat if those are the sort of things you've been reading." Oliver said, still smirking.

Mai darted around him, still blushing, and started filling the bowls with rice. She passed one to him and indicated for him to serve himself from the wok.

"You know you really ought to hide those books." Oliver said a few minutes later as they both sat eating.

"They are on the highest shelf I can reach!" Mai protested loudly. "Besides, there is nothing wrong with reading such books."

"Well it's no wonder your reading level is so low, they are hardly taxing."

"That isn't exactly why people read those books." Mai rolled her eyes.

"And why exactly do you read those books? Are the cases we go on not exciting enough for you?" Oliver asked delicately. Mai wondered if his use of the word 'exciting' had been deliberate or not.

"Well while the overwhelming level of attention I receive on cases is flattering, it's not exactly…" Mai trailed off, why was she even bothering?

"Not exactly what you want?" Oliver looked amused. "What is it you want?"

"None of your business." Mai huffed and looked down at her food.

They ate the remainder of the meal in silence. When they finished eating, Mai made to pick up the bowls, but Oliver beat her to it. He took the bowls to the sink and began rolling up the sleeves of his black shirt.

"No!" Mai protested. "I'll do it."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her and began washing up. Mai couldn't help but watch him work. She had noticed that he'd undone the top few buttons of his shirt and a thought occurred to her: did Oliver have chest hair? And would it bother her if he did?

Mai didn't think it would.

"Mai, if I asked you a question right now, would you be too distracted by my visage to answer coherently?" Oliver said, noticing Mai's staring and slightly vacant expression.

"Depends on the question." Mai replied, shaking herself mentally.

"Would you partake in an experiment with me?"

Mai felt her mouth drop open. Something was definitely wrong with Oliver. First he had accepted her offers of both tea and dinner. Alright, so maybe accepting tea wasn't so out of the ordinary. But staying for dinner certainly was. Secondly, he had voluntarily touching her to aid her cutting the vegetables. And now, now he was asking her to do something that usually he would have just demanded without so much as a thought to her wishes.

"Are you ill?" Mai blurted out, as a result of her train of thought; it was the only explanation.

Oliver took her hand in his own, still wet from the dishwater, and pressed it to his forehead.

"Do I have a fever?" He asked seriously.

"No."

"Then no, I am not ill." He said. "May I have an answer to my previous question?"

"Wow, it's like you can actually be polite when you want to be." Mai said sarcastically and she noticed Oliver smirk slightly as he dried his hands on a tea towel. "What sort of experiment? A psychic ability one?"

"I guess so."

"Will it hurt?"

"I do not think so."

"Reassuring."

"Coming from me, it should be."

Mai rolled her eyes.

"Alright, do you want to do this now?"

"Very much so, come on." Oliver took her hand – more contact – and dragged her to the sofa. "Take a seat."

Mai sat down on the sofa and watched as Oliver knelt down in front of her on the floor.

"What exactly is this experiment?" She asked tentatively.

"It is testing the extent your instincts. I thought of something this morning while at work." Oliver said. "Close your eyes, I am going to do things and I want you to respond by telling me what your instincts are telling you."

"Thinks like what? Poking me?" Mai greatly wished she had never agreed to this experiment.

"Yes."

"No tickling." Mai demanded, staring earnestly into Oliver's eyes. A flicker of amusement crossed his face.

"Okay."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He said seriously. "Now close your eyes." Mai complied, feeling very nervous.

As soon as her eyes were shut, she could feel her other senses ramping up their abilities to counter the lack of sight. She could hear the slight creaking of the sofa as she shifted her weight and feel the nervous sweat in her palms.

"What are they telling you now?" Oliver asked in a low voice, he sounded a lot closer than he had been a moment ago.

"To open my eyes and demand to know what you are about to do to me."

"Ah, well that would ruin the experiment." He paused. "Do you want to stop?"

"No, it's okay. I trust you."

"Good."

Mai waited, apprehensive. She could feel her whole body tensed in anticipation of whatever he was going to do.

She was about to ask why he was taking so long to do anything, when Mai felt breath on her face; he was very close now. Her mind went into overdrive, why was he this close? Mai bit her lip for a moment and then took a deep breath, trying to calm the nervous sensation in her stomach.

Then Oliver kissed her. A gentle peck on the lips.

"What about now?" He asked quietly. Mai was shocked; she couldn't find the words to reply and kept her eyes tight shut because she wasn't sure she could look at him right now. Had that really just happened?

"Quite frankly; disappointed." Mai said finally.

"Disappointed?" He repeated with all emotion withheld from his voice.

"Yes, I am disappointed in you; I was taught in science classes that for reliable results you must repeat the experiment several times. I can't give a reliable answer without repeats to ensure that initial instinctual feelings are consistently the same." Mai said quickly before she lost her nerve. Oliver chuckled and Mai knew that if she had opened her eyes, he would be genuinely smiling.

He kissed her again, another soft gentle peck.

"How many repeats would be sufficient?"

"Well in middle school, we had to do three, but in high school it was five." Mai replied.

"I see."

"But the more we do, the more reliable the results will be." Mai added and Oliver chuckled again.

"How do you feel about varying other parameters?"

"I'm open to suggestions."

Oliver kissed her again. However this time, he wrapped his hands around her waist and tipped his head to the right, he opened his mouth slightly and let the kiss go on longer as Mai responded enthusiastically.

"How did that compare?"

"It was very good." Mai said, grinning. "Can I open my eyes yet?"

"No."

He kissed her again; longer and more passionately. His fingers slipped underneath the edge of her shirt and started tracing small circles on her skin. Mai couldn't help it, she moaned into the kiss at the feeling of his fingers.

When they finally broke apart, Mai wondered if this was a dream. It was a very good dream. It had to be a dream. There was no way that her boss, Oliver Davis, would ever kiss her. He had rejected her, fobbed her feelings off incorrectly onto Gene.

"Is this real?" She whispered.

Mai felt a sudden pinch on the back of her hand.

"Ow!" She winced and opened her eyes. "What was that for?"

"If this was a dream, you would not have felt the pain."

"I would have if it was one of those dreams."

"Yes, because this is the sort of thing that would happen in one of those dreams." Oliver said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, and then lifted the hand he had pinched to his lips and kissed it. "Now close your eyes."

"Why?"

"So you don't bias the experiment."

Mai sighed, but played along and closed her eyes.

Oliver kissed her yet again, pulling her closer, his hand snaking up under her top. But Mai wasn't going to let him have all the fun. She let her own hands reach towards his body and started undoing the other buttons of his shirt. Once undone, she pushed the two sides of his shirt apart and let her hands roam his torso. Her fingers ran along the ridges of his lightly muscled frame up to his chest – which was hairless, Mai noted. They broke apart.

"Well?"

"Insufficient."

Mai heard him remove his shirt properly and wondered if she should take off her top too.

"Perhaps we need a better testing environment." He said lowly.

"Okay." Mai said and held up her hand. "Lead the way." She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest, but she was not going to stop this for anything. But Oliver did not take her hand; instead he picked her up bridal style. "The bedroom is the room on the left." She added quietly as she wrapped her hands around his neck. Her head was rested on his shoulder and she thought he smelt wonderful. Mai couldn't quite place the smell, but she liked it nonetheless.

A few seconds later, Oliver gently placed Mai on her bed. Mai felt the bed press down beside her as he too climbed on.

"Do you want me to…" Mai began, but Oliver silenced her with another gentle kiss.

"Not yet." He murmured.

Mai could feel him brushing a piece of hair away from her face. His fingers were so delicate in their actions, that his slightest touch gave her goose bumps.

"Do you want this Mai?" He asked seriously.

"Want what?"

"For the experiment to continue?"

"Naru, I want this to continue forever so I don't have to wake up and realise it was a dream."

"I thought we agreed this was real, or are you too idiotic to remember that?"

"That sounds more like my boss." Mai muttered. "Besides, it is your fault for distracting me. Take responsibility for your actions." Mai thought she could almost hear him roll his eyes.

But before she could ask if he had indeed rolled his eyes, he kissed her again.

"Face it." Mai said when they broke apart again. "You enjoy having his effect over women."

"No Mai." He replied, cupping her face in his warm hand. "Only over you."

Before Mai could question what exactly he meant by that, he was kissing her furiously. Mai rolled onto her side and pressed herself against him as she responded with equal vigour. Her hands roamed over his back and to his hair, which was surprisingly soft. She felt his hands tentatively move down towards her bum, but he stopped himself before moving any further. Without breaking the embrace, Mai grabbed his hand and directed it to her behind. She wanted him to touch her.

Oliver gently massaged her bum through her skirt, slightly annoyed with the damn bit of fabric in the way.

This time though, Mai broke the kiss early and rolled over so she was straddling her boss. Before he could say anything, Mai bent down and began trailing kisses down his neck, occasionally pausing to deepen the kiss.

At first, Mai wasn't sure she was doing it correctly, but then a low guttural groan emitted from Oliver's mouth that told her she was doing something very right.

"I guess you did learn something from those books then." He said as she sat up, grinning smugly.

"I could demonstrate a few other things I learnt from those books."

Oliver's face was almost unreadable. Mai was worried she had gone too far by making such a suggestion. Slowly, she climbed off Oliver and sat awkwardly on the bed, looking away from his face.

It was still raining outside.

"I think I would like that." Oliver said finally. Mai turned quickly to look at him and saw something she never thought should see on his face; something akin to fear.

"What's wrong?"

Oliver didn't reply, but sat up and pulled Mai closer.

"Psychometry has its downsides." He whispered and Mai didn't need to hear anything else, she understood at once.

"I'm sorry!" She said quickly. "I didn't think. Just we were kissing and… I'm sorry."

"I don't want to think of those things." Oliver said quietly. "I want to think of nicer things." Mai could see in Oliver's face that he was disgusted at his own choice of words, but she wasn't sure what to say to comfort him.

"Well if you want to repeat this experiment some other time, I'm happy to assist you." Mai said after a while and her words elicited a slight smile from her boss. "What does this mean for us?"

Oliver turned his head to look at her more closely and frowned.

"What does what mean?"

"Well we kissed."

"Yes we did." Oliver agreed.

"Well do you want us to, um, you know…" Mai swallowed, then went on. "Do you want us to be together?"

"Oh." Oliver's frown deepened. "Mai, I…"

"It doesn't matter, of course you don't." Mai flinched away from him, hitching a great big fake smile on her face. "Sorry for mentioning it!"

"Be quiet." Oliver said harshly and Mai fell silent. "Mai¸ I was not made for relationships." He said quietly in a gentler tone. "But I care for you very deeply and I want to try." Mai looked up hopefully into Oliver's beautiful blue eyes. "If that is okay with you." He added.

Mai nodded fervently.

"I have one, no, two conditions." Oliver said and Mai waited to hear them. "First, is that I don't want anyone else to know just yet and that I will tell the others when we both want them to know." Mai nodded her agreement and Oliver took her hand in his. "Second, that if we are doing something sexual, that we can stop at any time without question."

"Naru, that's how proper sex works." Mai said quietly. "Ayako said that it's best to agree on a safe word, something daft that no one would usually use, and then if you hear that word while doing things, then everything stops."

The fact that he seemed unaware of these things made Mai worry about what he had seen in his visions, but upon remembering some of the psychic dreams she had had, she could imagine.

"That would be acceptable." Oliver said finally. Then he shuffled down the bed and lay down, dragging Mai down with him so that he was spooning her with an arm around her waist. "Coconut." He mumbled. It was the smell of her shampoo.

And so Mai found herself falling asleep in Oliver's arms.

Author's note: Well this ended up entirely differently to what I intended. And those books on Mai's shelves? They are real books courtesy of Mills and Boon. Please review!