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“You hold up well for that age,” he teased. He threw back his head and laughed when I started smacking him. “Let’s go get whatever my present is before you toss it down the trash chute now.”

“I need pants for that and a bra,” I grumbled, sliding off the counter and going for my clothes in the foyer.

He wrapped his strong arms around me from behind. “I want the present, but I want you to not wear pants and a bra more. I’m torn. You sure we can’t do it naked?”

I laughed. What a damn goof.

Just to mess with him, I lifted my feet so he had to support my weight or we were falling—probably bad which was stupid. He managed it though, immediately standing and pulling me with him.

“Shit, that scared me,” he gasped after he got me settled back on my feet. “Got it. Never anticipate your next move. Okay, all caught up that you’re trouble.”

I mean… He wasn’t wrong. But that wasn’t the normal me. He brought out something in me that made me feel younger and not so jaded.

Maybe?

We headed up to my condo, and after a moment I realized it was silly to bring it all downstairs the way it was, so instead I had him sit at the counter and cover his eyes.

“But I wanna snoop and get to know you,” he grumbled, but obediently did as I said. He flinched when I set the first items down. “Okay, I’m dying of curiosity now that I’m hearing so much. How are multiple things one gift, love?”

I actually liked when he called me that. Normally , I didn’t like it when Brits did, but I’d never heard Ha-joon use it with anyone else. So it made me special.

Yes, I was in an abusive relationship for a decade and now any little thing was nice. I appreciated it. I didn’t think that was a bad thing.

“Well, it takes many parts for the one gift,” I explained.

He groaned. “Trail mix? I smell chocolate and nuts. Are we making more trail mix?”

I laughed. “Your nose is too good. Everything is sealed.” I rolled my eyes when he simply shrugged… And still had his eyes covered. “Uncover your eyes, goof.”

He did and wiped his mouth like there was drool when he saw it all set out. “Wow, there’s really a lot involved.” He frowned when he saw the jars of peanuts, but not packaged jars. Mason jars with my plastic, washable lids. “I need this explained.” Then he chuckled. “The jar broke?”

“No, apparently, getting unsalted peanuts isn’t as easy as other nuts.

People like them salted and roasted different ways.

So I could only find unsalted in their shells.

” I cleared my throat and brought out the rest. “It became a thing. Some people crochet or play games on their phones to distract them or keep their hands busy.”

“And you deshell peanuts?” he hedged.

I snorted. “I got Alan and a few others on it too. When we have meetings, instead of being in their own offices like the other department heads so we can relax, they come to my office and we open peanuts. It helps with the frustration idiots cause too. I can’t crack skulls, so we do this. ” I shrugged.

“That’s adorable, love. Seriously, too—you are adorable.”

I wasn’t embarrassed when he laughed, just surprised. Tommy thought it was silly and that I was being weirdly cheap. He never understood going through the headache when you could just buy them in smaller jars for more money.

I shook my head. No more even thinking about Tommy. That was over.

“So it’s two types of trail mix, the normal basic and a healthy one,” I told him as I showed him the massive mixing bowl we were going to use for it all.

“Then unsalted peanuts that I do, the unsalted heart healthy mix, low salt pistachios, macadamia nuts—all low or unsalted if I can find them, but that’s normally rough.

“The recipe is flexible, and I buy them in bulk like a lunatic when I can find them.” I shrugged again when he chuckled. “Then it’s dark chocolate-covered almonds and cashews before the Peanut M&M’s. Lastly, Reece’s Pieces.”

“I knew it!” he exclaimed. “I thought I tasted them, but Tai told me I was just nut overloaded.” He frowned, probably hearing the innuendo there.

Still, I chuckled. “You were correct. Again, the measurements are adjustable and fluctuate.” I covered the huge bowl that now had dozens of cups of ingredients. “Shake it all up.”

He snickered. “Presents that come with manual labor. I get it.” He was actually adorable when he shook it. He did it like tossing salad but also side to side, front to back, and then swirled it.

Yeah, I died. If only everyone could be so considerate when helping and make sure to do a good job. The world would be much better if more people cared about the details like that.

I took off the lid and checked it out. Then I added more of the heart-healthy mixed nuts and macadamia nuts. The distribution looked better after another shake-up.

Now it was just bagging it all up and repeating the process until all of the ingredients were gone. Ha-joon was a total goof and used the chocolate containers to store the final trail mix saying it was better than just recycling them.

Fair enough, but most doctors wouldn’t just want that sitting in their offices like they bootlegged moonshine. He gave me a look like I might be a bit pretentious and set one of the bags off to the side to bring to his office once we dragged it all down to his condo.

“I don’t want to be pushy, but I think you should try and schedule something with the coven leader before Fitz thinks to get him on his side somehow,” Ha-joon said gently when we were done.

I sighed because he was right. So I made the call, and after being bounced around, I used my position at ASH to get through. I was pissed that it came to that, but I also understood that because I had everyone off the street always wanting to come directly to me too.

And most times they didn’t need me. They just wanted the boss even if it was something I didn’t handle.

So I understood… But I didn’t like it.

“He said he can see me after dinner if it’s informal,” I told Ha-joon when I was done.

“Good, that gives us time to eat and shower.” He smirked at me.

And that was how I ended up having sex with him in his expansive shower.

“I need to change my shower,” I muttered when we were done, glancing at it. “That overhead water fixture is—how do you have more water pressure than I do?”

He frowned at me. “There’s a way to adjust that I think. When was the last time you updated your bathrooms?”

I blinked at him. “I never have. Everything is the original install from when I had the place built. I mean a few appliances that have broken but…” I shrugged.

He stared at me like I’d grown a third head. “Okay, so updating your condo is on the list. Isn’t this building older than I am?”

Yes. I didn’t want to admit that but… Yes. Fine, I was—whatever, I was never there. I went to my condo to sleep.

“Once there’s not such a mess at the hospital,” I muttered after a moment. Some upgrades would be nice at least. The shower he had was way more inviting than mine. The tub—yeah, it was definitely time.

We ate at an amazing hole-in-the-wall place near the building that Ha-joon was in love with. I fully understood because it was authentic Mexican and fucking delicious.

We arrived at the coven leader’s house about ten minutes before the meeting time, but Justin Shields was ready as well and didn’t play games.

Mostly.

He was confused why Ha-joon was there and frowned harder when he realized it wasn’t about helping his coven but having to do his job leading.

I gave him all of the proof and outlined what was going on, trying to take as much emotion out of it as possible.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” he asked when I was done, still frowning.

It was on the tip of my tongue to snark at him that no, I came just because he was pretty and I was bored. “Yes, I want you to handle your coven member and reel him in.”

The long breath he let out was so dismissive that it reminded me of my father and that never went well for me. But I was also older than this shit and had a better position than him in life.

And it was time people started remembering that.

“This seems more like a job for your HR and managing your hospital,” he pushed back.

I ran my tongue over my teeth, feeling better when rage poured off of Ha-joon.

“He’s fired if I do that. That’s where we’re at.

And then it will be one of your coven fired for stalking and harassing the woman who runs the hospital because he wants her wealth after he was punished repeatedly for his bad behavior.

“I could handle it easily, but it will be a mess . For your coven more than my hospital, but I still would like to avoid it.” I went on when he seemed ready to argue.

“And what will the members of this coven say learning there’s a predator here?

They’ll probably push him out, and as much as I’d like to never see him again—someone needs to smack sense into him that he is the problem. ”

“He is a dismissive narcissist who is playing games that reflect badly on your coven,” Ha-joon took over.

“And I’m honestly disappointed that you are only learning of this situation or there was a problem.

” The coven leader didn’t like hearing that, but clearly it was the right button to push.

“My father would have been all over this the moment he was suspended.

“And you didn’t even know? This whole thing doesn’t just make magics and your coven look bad, but the leadership that you let it get this far.

ASH is Atlanta. How many of your coven work there?

Or support it somehow? Own shops where the massive number of employees frequent?

All of this affects them as now magics are being cut out at the hospital as petty.

“Because some went to back him up and others won’t comment or ignore it. The shifters who were dragged in and have to deal with Fitz are pissed. Ms. Reed is a vampire. Her leadership gets involved and you have a disaster here. A massive one. And you didn’t even know about it.”

The look he gave Justin like he was disappointed and looking at a pissant who was in over his head was amazing . Seriously, I was in awe of how well he played the situation and turned things around from me being overly sensitive to this.

“You’re right that I should have been informed before this,” Justin accepted even with a bit of an attitude about it. “I will handle Tommy and get him under control. I would suggest the hospital getting some magic-proof surveillance instead of—”

“There’s always a way around that,” I interjected, pissed he was turning this around to my poor management.

“Most surveillance is a deterrent, and if people want around it, they will do so. We all know that. But it still did its job because Dr. Fitz was the only warlock in the parking garage before the cameras went down. It’s not a jump. ”

“No, it’s not, and I understand. I will handle him. Thank you for telling me, and I hope you have a good night,” he said with a slightly hostile smile.

Well, that was one way to be dismissed.