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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