Sexy SEAL Box Set: A SEAL's Seduction\A SEAL's Surrender\A SEAL's Salvation\A SEAL's Kiss (77 page)

“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.

“Oh, God, no,” she said, laughing. “How boring would that be? I’m sexually correct in that I’m the perfect sexual orientation for all of my sexual preferences.”

Aiden had to sigh.

It was that, or drop his head into his hands and groan.

What was it about Sage that let her take a completely crazy statement, twist it into knots so it made perfect sense, and turn him on all at the same time?

He’d always found smart women sexy.

And Sage, God help them both, was brilliant. Twisted, flighty and very out there. But, his body insisted as it hardened in appreciation, definitely brilliant.

* * *

S
AGE
BIT
HER
LIP
, trying not to laugh aloud at the frustrated expression on Aiden’s face. She’d never in a million years have allowed her imagination to venture into a scenario that had her father fighting for his life, and his battle dependent on she and Aiden pretending to be in love.

But since they were there, she was starting to think this might actually be kinda fun. Or at least, fun enough playing with Aiden to distract her from the terror dogging her every thought.

“Okay,” he said, waving his hand as if trying to erase all of her crazy comments. “Time to get serious.”

“Ahh, then you’re taking charge now,” she murmured.

He shot her a look that said she was stepping outside the serious line, and had better behave. Sage was tempted to ask if he’d spank her if she didn’t.

But she was afraid she might like his answer a little too much.

“If this is going to work we have to see it as a mission,” Aiden said, his words clipped and his tone cool. Official, she realized, leaning forward and clasping her hands together in anticipation. She’d never seen Aiden in military mode. This should be fun.

“Are you listening?” he asked, giving her a narrow look, his dark eyes assessing her seriousness.

As tempting as it was to tease him, Sage managed to keep her expression sincere. After all, she wanted this to work more than anything. Well, except for seeing him take command. That, she was
really
looking forward to.

“Of course I’m listening,” she said, gesturing with a finger wave that he keep it coming. “We’re on a mission. Of course, I’ve never been on a mission before. Unless you count those two months I belonged to the Commune of the Sacred Light up in Seattle and tried to convert the pescatarians to pork. You know, the other white meat.”

“I thought chicken—” Aiden cut himself off with a shake of his head, then gave her a chiding look. “Do you want us to successfully pull off this fake engagement or not? Either you call the shots, or I do.”

The tight knot that’d tangled her heart and guts so miserably the last week loosened for the first time. Not just because Aiden was home and taking charge. But because finally, here was someone who could actually distract her enough to keep from worrying every single second.

Diving into the distraction, she debated suggesting they share the shots, preferably out of a tequila bottle. But she figured that’d go over about as well as the pork idea had. Although Aiden probably wouldn’t threaten to roast her over a barbecue like the gang at the commune had. Who knew living on just seafood could make hemp-wearers so bloodthirsty.

“Call away,” she instructed, waving one hand regally as she leaned back on the couch and got comfy. Better him than her. She wasn’t so good at the making-rules thing. Mostly because she never cared about following them. But rules and Aiden? Peanut butter and jelly.

Something he was clearly aware of, since rather than looking surprised, he instead gave a nod to indicate he’d expected nothing less. Mulling with his chin low, he got up from the chair. He paced two steps to the right, clasped his hands behind his back like a general plotting a coup, paced two steps to the left, then faced her again.

“Okay, then, here we go. The obvious goal of the mission is to offer peace of mind to the Professor.” He waited for Sage to agree, which she quickly did, then gave an answering nod. “Which, to him, is the concept of both of us being settled and happy. Marriage, as he’s hinted at from time to time over the last decade, is his ultimate goal.”

Say what? Her father had dropped plenty of hints to her over the years. Hints she’d laughed at. But he’d tossed a few at Aiden, too? To the same reaction? She frowned. It was one thing for her to think they were totally unsuitable and the idea of them as a couple was funny. But she was oddly insulted that Aiden felt the same.

Then it hit her that this mission, as Aiden was calling it, was something her father really, really wanted. It was so important to him, and it might be the last thing he ever asked of her.

Suddenly all of the other things he’d ever asked bombarded her. That she come home for Christmas. That she get a degree. The three weeks he’d spent nagging her to see a dentist to make sure her tongue piercing wasn’t going to ruin her teeth. The concern he’d shown over the guy she was dating. Any guy, she realized. He’d been concerned about them all. To the point that, somewhere after her twentieth birthday, she’d stopped letting him meet them. All because it’d been easier than worrying about making her father happy.

What did that say about her? And how much longer did she have to worry about his happiness? Her chest too tight to pull in a deep breath, Sage bit her lip and tried to keep from crying.

“Sage?”

She took a shallow breath, trying to get air to her lungs. The pain was too much, though. She debated putting her head between her knees. But while she wasn’t averse to a head between her knees, she didn’t want it to be her own. Nor did she want to explain why it was there to Aiden.

Because that’d be admitting fear. Admitting that she didn’t believe that smiles and positive energy and this crazy scheme were going to be enough to pull her father through.

“Sage?” Aiden asked again, stepping over to lean down and peer at her face.

“I’m okay,” she croaked.

“What’s wrong?”

Unable—unwilling—to explain, she shrugged and waved at Aiden to keep barking out rules.

He narrowed his eyes, stepping closer as if he were going to offer comfort. Then, since he probably didn’t figure mission leaders were supposed to hand out hugs, he frowned instead and gave her a nod.

“If we’re going to succeed, we both have to be completely committed to whatever means necessary to fulfill said mission.”

Blinking back the tears that were burning her eyelids, Sage sniffed and forced herself to focus on Aiden instead of her morbid thoughts.

A good choice, since he made for a great view. He was so cute, all serious and intense. Unable to resist, Sage widened her eyes and asked, “Will that include night-vision goggles, matching camo outfits and secret passwords?”