Cause & Effect | Ominis Gaunt Love Story

Chapter 48: Obliviate Me

"Shower with me."

What?

He'd heard her wrong. Or maybe, "Did you lose too much blood? How many fingers am I holding?"

"Two?"

It was three. "You're-"

"Kidding." She smiled, standing up and holding her hand out towards him, "Come on. It's very late and I don't feel like taking a bath. It'll be quicker to take a quick shower together."

His mouth went dry. "I'm not fucking you." She'd gotten hurt. She needed to rest.

Stella's expression was flat. "I didn't ask you to. Now do you want to shower or not?"

Eyeing her for a moment, Ominis sighed. Not because he didn't want to, but because this witch could ask for anything non-relic related, and he'd give it to her. He'd dropped the equivalent of £100,000 with barely more than a blink of an eye for the illusion of spending a night with her in A'morte.

He'd empty his family's vaults just to have her smile at him.

Taking her hand, he nodded, and helped her too her feet. She looked up at him, hopeful and curious about what he'd say next. It almost made him smile. When had anyone ever looked at him with hope and not with resentment? When had he started caring what she thought of him?

"Alright, princess. Let's shower and get you to bed."

Chapter 48: Obliviate Me

"What did Eden mean earlier when she said she'd be leaving a sample in the office?" Stella inquired, doing her best not to stare. Or at least look directly down while he turned the shower handle.

She felt silly, covering her breasts when everything was bare to him. Where had her earlier bravado gone? Shower with her? The words had slipped out, not because she wanted to have sex with him, but because she found herself craving a certain level of intimacy with him.

Ominis stood in his black drawers that were the early equivalent of briefs and he was staring at his gloves absently as if trying to decide what to do with them. Should she have not suggested showering together? Was this stressing him out?

While her mind was swimming with insecurities, Ominis spoke clearly, "Eden held onto him that long to gather as much of his blood into her mouth as possible. With it, I can work on creating a tracking spell, and it'll hopefully lead me straight to him." He paused, thinking about it more. "And maybe the underground potion ring."

"Underground potion ring?" He turned his head towards her, but Ominis wasn't shy by nature. He didn't hide the way his eyes drifted down to her hands covering her breasts. Nor did he hide the appreciative gleam in his eyes, seeing the curve of her hips. She noticed his gaze stray longer than necessary on her legs and the manner in which she squirmed under his watchful eye. "I remember that from your board."

He nodded, gesturing for her to get in first. "You gave me the idea when you went to Scotland Yard the other day. I'm wondering if Jack had been given an incorrect potion that did more harm than good and now he was looking for the witch who'd harmed him. What if it was a blonde healer and he was trying to track her down?"

Stella walked past him, ignoring how her skin prickled with awareness. They were having a serious conversation, now wasn't the time to think about how she'd be seeing him naked for the first time. She pondered his words, also ignoring the soft thud of clothes hitting the ground, and the shower door sliding open behind her.