Page 18 of Protecting Vera

She spent the morning catching up with email, placing the outgoing messages in a queue that would go out in the morning at eight Eastern time. She’d learned early that other employees were upset when she sent emails on the weekend. She didn’t expect them to respond, but they couldn’t understand why she liked catching up on work on the weekends so during the week, she could do things like spend thirty minutes doing yoga in the middle of the day and not feel bad about it.

While she was in the middle of a yoga session, she heard Hop come in. She almost abandoned her session and headed into the kitchen to help him put the groceries away, but that was an impulse from her old self. Logan demanded that she serve him at all times. If she even tried to do anything for herself, he got angry. Hop didn’t seem like the kind of guy to get angry about stuff like her doing yoga instead of going into the kitchen to put up groceries that he could put up on his own.

After her yoga and shower, she headed into the main room. It was close to two, and she found Hop reading an article. He glanced up, his lips spreading into a warm smile.

“I made up the meat, so the patties are in the refrigerator, just waiting for me to cook.”

“I’m looking forward to having burgers.”

“I met up with a group of SEALs, and we did a huge workout this morning. I’m probably going to eat two burgers.”

“If you’re hungry, we could go ahead and cook. I could eat.”

He glanced at the tablet he was reading on, then back at her. “Okay. I’m good with that. I’ll get the grill heated.”

“I can cut the tomato and wash lettuce.”

“Cool.”

She worked in the kitchen while he was outside grilling. The window over the sink looked out into the backyard right where the grill was set up, making it impossible to not stare as he cooked the burgers. She needed to talk to someone about the crush she had on Hop. Frizz was the last person she needed to tell. Maybe she could talk to Ellis or Remi so she could get over this crush.

He was doing her a favor, and he didn’t need her doing something stupid like falling for him. She had to find a way to pull back so she didn’t embarrass herself.

Hop hadto find a way to keep busy on the weekends. He’d spent too much time with Vera over the last few days. They weren’t dating and weren’t going to date. She was here because her life was in danger. The least he could do was respect her and not hit on her.

After they ate, they cleaned the kitchen, which didn’t take long since she’d cleaned as she worked in the kitchen. He noticed that at some point she’d dusted so he didn’t even need to do his weekly clean up routine.

“I’m going to take a nap.”

She nodded. “I’ll be quiet.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle. “I can sleep anywhere. You don’t have to change anything you were planning on doing.”

“Oh. I guess that’s a military thing.”

“Yeah. I have to be able to drop off anywhere.”

“That’s interesting. I’ll see you later. I might go for a walk.”

“Take your phone and call if you need anything.”

She nodded. “I will.”

He woke, not hearing Vera. Maybe she was taking a nap. He rolled over and checked the time, seeing he’d slept for about two hours. The nap had been decent, giving him plenty of rest.

When he opened his bedroom door, he didn’t hear anyone else in the house. Where was Vera?

Panic rose as he stepped into the hall and had a good look into her room. It was empty. He grabbed his phone, not seeing any notifications.

He was ready to go searching for her when he noticed her outside in the backyard. She was on the phone, a worried look on her face. He stepped out, fearing what she had to say.

She glanced up and frowned as she held up her finger. He moved closer and heard the words that made him freeze.

“Frizz, Ben just stepped out. You need to tell him.”

Hop closed his eyes, praying that his sister was safe. “What happened?”

“Hey, Benny, it’s not bad.”

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