Gage just smiled. "No agendas here. Mine or yours. You know if you marry me, you have to trust me. No more dates where you pump me for information, or sleepover games designed to figure out my angle. When you have questions, we have to talk about things like rational adults. And when we spend time together, it'll be because we can't be apart."
Guilt crushed through her chest. "Did you know the whole time?"
"No. I figured out later that all the strange questions were because you suspected I was involved in the leak from the very beginning. It's okay. I realized why you thought that was necessary. I hadn't given you any reason to trust me, which I hope I'm fixing right now."
Finally, it started to sink in. He'd taken soul-searching to a whole other plane. And somehow figured out how to claim her heart in the process with a simple thing like forgiveness. She'd held him at arm's length, convinced he would break her heart, when instead he'd offered his up with no strings attached.
She shoved back the flood of emotion for a second time. Or was it a third? She'd lost count because he'd done exactly what he'd predicted he would-knocked down her barriers against him.
"No agenda," she repeated dumbly. "Then why marriage? You could hardly say the word the last time this came up."
He took that with surprising grace and nodded. "I've spent years running from anything that smacked of commitment under the guise of living life to the fullest and experiencing new heights. I've done it all, except one thing. You're my ultimate experience, Cass. Just you. Everything feels better when I'm with you. Why would I keep running from that?"
"Because you're a serial idiot?" she choked out, and he laughed, pulling one from her, as well.
That was the benefit of falling in love with a man like Gage. She was botching up his marriage proposal and he still managed to pull it off.
"I am a serial idiot. I hope that means we're a perfect match," he said, his voice clogged with emotion she'd never heard before. "Because it would be dumb of you to take a chance on me. I'm going to immediately drop a baby in your lap. That's a lot to ask. I get that. But if you hand me that ring back, I'm only going to keep coming around until you say yes."
It was real. The man she loved had just asked her to marry him. She curled her hand around the ring, holding it tight against her palm. "The best thing about us is that we're equals. Guess that means I'm a serial idiot, too, because I never fell out of love with you."
Yes, clearly she'd gone mad because she never would have imagined admitting that in a million years. Never imagined being a mother. Never imagined she'd be this happy.
Strangely, Gage becoming a father had been the tipping point. She could trust that he'd stick around this time because she'd seen what he was capable of with Robbie. What it looked like when he loved someone. She knew it was possible and could finally believe it was happening to her.
A smile split his face and when he kissed her, he nearly split her heart, as well. Good thing. All the emotion inside was too big to be contained in that little bitty organ. Looked like she was getting her happily-ever-after.
Epilogue
Phillip Edgewood threw a hell of party. His status as one of the nation's most eligible bachelors coupled with his deep Texas roots afforded him a wide circle of acquaintances. Gage had never socialized with his cousin. Shame it had taken him so long to reach out to a man he'd known since childhood. They'd had lunch a couple of times since that day Gage had shown up out of the blue to ask for help, and they might even be on the way to becoming friends.
But tonight, Gage only had eyes for his date. Cassandra Claremont put the Hollywood celebs, Texas oil royalty and glittery society wives in attendance at Phillip's fundraiser to shame.
And Gage had been apart from his fiancée for five long minutes. He crossed the crowded ballroom to the bar, where Cass laughed over something Alex had said. That was a welcome sight. Cass had mentioned she and Alex were at odds over Fyra's strategy and that Alex had been the main one speaking out against Cass's leadership.
Whatever had happened to cause the rift appeared to be repaired, which Gage knew was a load off Cass's mind.
"Ladies," he murmured as he came up behind the most gorgeous woman in the room, wrapping his arm around her.
He couldn't touch her enough. Sometimes he did it just to assure himself he hadn't invented this fantasy out of thin air. But every time he reached out, she reached back. Commitment had its perks. Lots of them.
"Alex, you look fantastic," he commented truthfully as Cass's arm circled his waist in kind. "Did you do something different?"
Cass smacked him playfully. "Spoken like a true man. Of course she did. It's a formal party and we spent two days getting ready for it."
The two women exchanged smiles and piqued Gage's interest. "Sounds like there's a story there."
He'd been privy to nothing as Cass had told him to butt out. Repeatedly.
"A boring one," Alex assured him with a careful nod, likely in deference to the gravity-defying swept-up hairdo that drew attention to her lovely face. "Cass volunteered to give me a makeover, that's all."
"That's all?" Cass squealed incredulously. To Gage, she said, "The woman works for a cosmetics company and never wears the stuff. So I taught her a few tricks and voilà."
Alex blushed becomingly. "It's not that I didn't want to wear makeup. But every time I did, I felt like I was trying too hard."
Phillip appeared at Alex's side, which was the most likely cause of her blush. They made a cute couple and Phillip deserved some happiness after the untimely death of his wife several years before. Of course, the senator and the CFO both brushed off their association as "working together" to secure Fyra's FDA approval. They weren't fooling anyone.
As their host whisked Alex off to the dance floor, Gage nestled his fiancée closer.
"So things are good between you now?" he asked.
Cass nodded. "Yeah. We had a heart-to-heart and she admitted she was feeling left out. I have a tendency to deal with issues on my own, and apparently that comes across as...cold."
Gage stuck his tongue in his cheek. "You don't say."
"No, really," she insisted, oblivious to Gage's sarcasm. "I was acting like the title of CEO meant I had to do it all with no help and as if letting anyone see that I was uncertain was like some big crime. I ended up confessing that to all the girls when I told them I hadn't found the leak and you weren't involved. It was a real turning point and now we're 100 percent united. I have you to thank for helping me learn that."
"Me?" That was a genuine surprise. "You're the one who's been mentoring me in how to do this long-term thing. What did I teach you?"
"That it's okay to use your head and your heart." She smiled. "In all things. I couldn't have fathomed becoming a mother otherwise."
Robbie had warmed to Cass instantly, so much so that his son cried inconsolably when Cass had to go back to Dallas on Sunday nights. It was only temporary until they could figure out the logistics of moving an entire company's headquarters. And until they finished arguing about whose company was doing the moving.
"I told you we're a perfect match," Gage insisted. "I don't know what took you so long to get wise to how good we are together."
Guess it turns out you can live life to the fullest with one woman, after all.
Gage smiled. Nicolas was right once again. Cass was the ultimate experience and he couldn't wait to get started on forever.