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“You gonna fill me in on the reason for the dumbass remarks?”
“Mine? Or theirs? Because I can only truly explain my own actions,” she said, keeping her tone light and teasing as she continued to pull him around the house.
“Sage.”
She heaved a huge sigh as they rounded the corner and got out of view of the guests, and, she noted with a quick glance, her father’s study window.
“Look, I’m sorry,” she said earnestly, lifting her free hand toward the heavens as if to say it wasn’t really all her fault. “I really didn’t expect you home. Dad said he visited you months ago and you were talking about surfing. So I figured you’d be basking in the sun somewhere, or you know, chasing babes on a beach.”
“So you knew I’d be on leave this month?”
“Of course,” she said with a shrug, not sure why he sounded so surprised. She always kept track of his schedule. That’s how she knew he was safe. “But I didn’t think you’d be coming home. If I did, I’d have warned you.”
The Spanish tiles, warmed by the sun, were smooth beneath her feet as they crossed onto the lanai. As soon as his boots hit the stone, Aiden pulled his arm from hers and, his frown ferocious, shifted his hands to his hips and gave her the evil eye.
“Warned me? Instead of some drunk slapping me on the back and congratulating me on my score? Or the lady at the grocery store whose name I don’t know hugging me and weeping over my upcoming blessing?” He gave a low growl when Sage’s lips twitched, so she tried harder to keep the smile from escaping. “Then I get here and instead of a simple explanation, you throw your almost-naked body on me and start a public make-out session?”
“Did you like it?” she asked, as much out of curiosity to feed that tiny seed of hot desire still burning in her belly as to buy some time.
“Why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on,” he shot back. The stubborn set of his chin and irritation in his gaze told her he’d reached the end of his patience.
Chewing on her bottom lip, she took a deep breath through her teeth. How was she supposed to tell him? Did she ease in with the engagement news, or explain about her father’s health first? He wasn’t going to take either well.
Before she could decide, she heard the back door open and shut.
Her heart sank toward her bare toes and a now-familiar pain started throbbing in her temple. How was she supposed to handle this? She blinked fast to clear the tears from her eyes, not willing for her father to see her upset. Or to doubt for a single second that his most cherished hope might not come true.
“Please, just go along. I promise, I’ll explain everything soon,” she whispered, noting her father’s footsteps coming closer. “It’s for my dad.”
Aiden’s eyes flicked over her shoulder, then met hers again. He’d only looked away for a millisecond, but she knew from his frown that in that brief glance he’d seen enough to worry him. Good. A worried Aiden was a quiet Aiden. And she needed him to be quiet until she convinced him to go along with her plan.
A plan that’d been so simple when she blurted out that she was in a serious relationship to get Nina and her matchmaking off her back.
One that’d stayed pretty easy when her father, hearing the news, had jumped all over like it was the answer to all of his prayers. After all, how difficult should it be to pretend she and Aiden were engaged? People always expected crazy from her. And Aiden wasn’t going to be around.
The ease of her plan had frayed at little at the edges over the last week. The million questions and suggestions about the upcoming fantasy wedding were bad enough. But between trying to process her father’s illness and dire prognosis, balanced by his excitement over the news about her and Aiden, she’d been wondering if she’d made a mistake.
And now?
Her plan was looking about as smart as the rocks beneath her feet.
As great as it’d be to hand it all over to Aiden to take care of, Sage knew this scenario had all the makings of a disaster.
Not because it was a crazy idea.
Or that Aiden wouldn’t go along.
She sighed, looking at his hard, deliciously muscled body. A body that she was still tingling over plastering herself to. Not listening to a word they said, she watched Aiden greet her father, his soft lips tempting her with every move.
Nope.
It wasn’t that the plan was bad, she realized.
It was that she wasn’t sure she could resist taking advantage of every single sexual possibility it presented.
3
WHAT THE HELL was going on?
Sage kissed him as though she’d realized he was the answer to her every sexual fantasy, and now she looked as if she was about to fall apart.
While he could handle the kiss—even if that kind of thing was strictly off-limits—the falling apart was a definite cause for concern.
And the Professor looked like... Well, Aiden looked again. He’d rarely thought of the other man as aging. Sure, in the twenty years since they’d first met, there was a little more silver at the temples and the once-robust physique was showing some softening.
But now the old guy appeared to be three steps away from death. Gray-tinged skin seemed to sag from his bones and he looked as though he’d lost twenty pounds and half his hair in the couple of months since Aiden had seen him.
Suddenly feeling as sick as his mentor looked, Aiden’s gaze cut to Sage. The quick, tiny shake of her head made it clear she didn’t want him to ask questions. He debated. He didn’t like waiting, and would definitely prefer to get his information from the Professor. The straight facts, untainted by the emotions emanating from his daughter.
Sage’s lips trembled and Aiden sighed. He’d never been able to resist her. Even when he knew better. Even when he had no idea why she drowned herself in the emotional depths she did.
This time was no different.
As if she’d read his mind, and he was never one-hundred-percent sure she couldn’t, Sage gave a relieved smile.
“Daddy, would you mind if I stole Aiden away for a little while? We haven’t seen each other in so long. I know you need to talk with him, but, well...” The words trailed off as she heaved a sigh deep enough to challenge her bikini top and Aiden’s resistance.
Then, either for effect or to try and make his libido explode, she sidled closer, plastered herself against his side and wrapped one arm through his so her breast pressed against his bare bicep.
Aiden bit back a groan. An instant erection over his mentor’s daughter while the older man was standing there was poor taste, to say the least.
“I think I should speak with Aiden,” the Professor said quietly, not looking any happier about the idea of what he had to share than Aiden knew he was going to be to hear it.
“Daddy, please,” Sage said, hitting three syllables on that last word. She threw in a fluttering of her lashes and stopped just short of sticking out her bottom lip. “I know it’s important, but can it wait just a little bit?”
His face set in deep furrows, the older man only hesitated for a second before his expression changed from determined to relieved.
“I think I’ll take a short nap, then. We’ll all meet for dinner?”
He waited for Aiden’s nod, then gave them both an indulgent smile before slowly making his way inside.
Sage waited for the door to close before she shifted away. She didn’t let go, though. Instead, after a frown at the sliding door her father had gone through, she tugged him around the corner of the house to the French doors, grabbing what looked like a silk towel off the patio chair as they went.
“You know, if your dad had ever been able to resist that big-eyed pleading look, you might not be having to explain what hugely fabricated make-believe story you’ve dragged me into,” Aiden said, letting himself into the family room, crossing the Persian carpet to close the double doors before turning to face her. “Again.”
“Again? You say that like I’ve dragged you into tons of make-believe situations,” she protested, shaking out the fabric, then shifting it this way and that until he realized it was a dress and she was looking for the hemline. He wished she’d hurry, since the sooner she found it, the sooner she’d put the damned thing on.
“Shall I make a list? We could start with prom, when you told everyone I was your date so you could get out of going with that football player you didn’t like anymore.”
“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Besides, you had fun taking me to prom,” she claimed.
Fun? Maybe.
But it’d also been his first introduction to torture, realizing that Sage was everything he found sexy in a woman, and completely off-limits.
Which put that night at the top of his most-regrettable choices list. For a Special Forces officer who’d served multiple missions during wartime, that was saying something.
“Sage.” Through playing word games, he wanted information. And his expression made it clear he was going to get it.
“You can be such a grump,” Sage said, pulling a silky dress of some sort over her head. He should have been relieved when the mossy green fabric covered all that tempting flesh. That he wasn’t, he figured, was due to her not giving him his usual buffer time between his typical instant lust for her and the point when his well-honed discipline kicked in.
“A grump who’s engaged to be married, apparently,” Aiden pointed out. Better to take control of the conversation and get right to the point. Otherwise who knew where this discussion would meander.
Despite the worry still etched on her forehead, Sage clapped her hands together and gave him a pleased smile. Why he’d expected her to look ashamed was beyond him.
“Oh, good. You’ve already heard. That makes breaking the news to you easier.”
Aiden tilted his head to one side and shook it a little, wondering if that’d shake his brain cells into the same odd configuration as Sage’s apparently were.
“Do you regret nothing, ever?” he asked in wonder.
“Regret? What’s to regret?” Suddenly as serious as he’d ever seen her, her face grew ferocious and her eyes fierce. She threw both hands in the air. “My father is dying, Aiden. Hearing that you and I were engaged was like giving him a huge dose of hope. Even his doctor said it’s been great for him. Why on earth would I regret that?”
It was like taking a mortar shot to the gut.
Fast, painful and devastating.
For a second, Aiden couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t begin to process the immensity of her words, of what they meant.
Clearly not quite the way she’d planned to break it to him, Sage slapped her hand over her mouth, her expression horrified. Then her eyes filled with tears. Before he could decide if he should hug her or run, she held out both hands as if to say wait. It only took her a couple of breaths to regain her composure, then she sank onto the couch and gestured that she’d wait until he had processed it all.
How did someone prepare for this kind of hit?
He was trained in war. He was skilled in strategy and stealth ops. He’d learned early into his career with the SEALs to build into every relationship the strong possibility of an abrupt goodbye.
Hell, his career had been founded on loss.
But this?
This was something different.
Suddenly feeling as if his entire world was made up of destruction and death, Aiden pushed his hand through his short-cropped hair and tried to gather his thoughts.
Self-pity and drama wouldn’t help anyone, least of all the Professor. And as Sage had already made clear, finding ways to help the older man was their top priority.
“What’s the diagnosis?” he asked quietly, finally ready to hear the details.
“Stage three pancreatic,” she said hoarsely, watching her fingers twisting the fabric of her dress instead of meeting his eyes. Her way of keeping control of her emotions, he knew.
He needed to research this cancer. See what studies had been done, what treatments were offered. Perhaps there was something experimental they could explore.
But hope and a positive attitude would go further than any treatment, Aiden knew. An oncologist specializing in rare forms of cancer, his own father had shared more than one story about miracle recoveries based on nothing more concrete than optimism and faith.
“Tell me what you’ve done,” he finally said, dropping into a wing-backed chair and gesturing that he was ready to deal with whatever she could dish up.
“It all started when Nina—who just eloped, by the way—tried to fix me up with some guy,” Sage began. By the time she’d wound her way around to how her father had heard about their fake engagement at the same time he was telling her the news about his illness, Aiden was shaking his head in awe.
Despite the craziness, it actually all made perfect sense. Well, Sage sense, which was usually perfect in hindsight.
“So that’s how we ended up engaged,” she said with a deep sigh. “I’ve tried to find a way to wriggle out of it, but you’re so great in my father’s eyes that nothing I’ve said will convince him that you aren’t perfect. For me, even.”
“For you, even,” he repeated, laughing helplessly and admiring Sage’s easy acceptance of her own flaws. “Now that’s saying something.”
“It’s making him happy,” she said, looking down at her tangled fingers and giving a sigh heavy enough to break a heart. “It’s giving him hope and a purpose. I cringe every time he mentions the wedding, but he glows. How can this be a mistake if it helps him get better?”
How, indeed.
“What if he expects an actual ceremony?”
She was shaking her head before he finished the words.
“He knows I won’t get married while worrying about his health. That’d be bad juju.”
Aiden’s grimace quickly shifted to a rueful grin. Looked like all that new-agey stuff she was obsessed over might pay off.
“And the exit plan?” he asked. Never commit to a mission without a clear way out.
“When he’s better, and cleared by at least two doctors, we realize that we aren’t suited. I’m thinking we blame your career choice,” she said, batting her eyelashes and giving him a look so sexy and persuasive that he was nodding before he realized what she’d said.
“What? Why my career?”
“Because I don’t have one.” For a second, her lower lip poked out in a cute pout. “And before you suggest we blame it on me being too flighty, I’ve always been that way. He’s not going to believe you changed your mind over something that’s always been a fact.”
It took Aiden a second or two to follow that logic, but once he did, he had to admit she was right.
“Okay, fine,” he said grudgingly. “We can blame my commitment to being a SEAL. Statistics will support that claim.”
Hopefully a few of his team would beat the odds, since two were recently married and one newly engaged. But military and marriage weren’t a good bet under most odds. Factor in the added issues of Special Forces, with the extra dangers and secrecy, and the odds got a little longer.
“Ahhh, statistics,” Sage said fondly. Then she rolled her eyes. “A nice fallback and one my father will undoubtedly let himself believe. But we all know that I’m not statistically correct.”
“Are you any kind of correct?” Aiden asked in exasperation.
She pondered for a moment, her fingernail tapping on her lower lip in a way that made his mouth water.
“I’m sexually correct.”
“You do sex correctly?” he clarified before he could stop himself.
