Free Consume Me by Kailin Gow

come back.”
    “Do you want to marry me, Taryn?”
    “What a silly question.  Of course I do.”
    Pensive, he nodded and grabbed his briefcase.  “I’ve got to go,” he finally said as he slipped into his shoes and grabbed his keys. “Order breakfast, have a relaxing morning and I’ll be back in a few hours to bring you to the airport.”  He tenderly kissed her lips before leaving.
    Alone in the hotel room, Taryn spun Matt’s words around and around in her head.  Getting the insurance money would probably solve a lot of Errol’s problems, more so than if he’d simply tried to sell the restaurant.
    Then she considered his offer to sell his apartment.  Everything was going so fast and she was beginning to feel rushed and exhausted by the overflow of emotions
    After her third coffee and a few bites of her toast, she decided to take a cab down to the Institute.  Getting to the airport would be a lot quicker if they didn’t have to return to the hotel.  Besides, she missed how the Institute touched all her senses, bringing her alive with all the sights and smells of fine cuisine.  She wanted to take a little peek before leaving.
    She gathered her few belongings and headed down to the lobby where the clerk called her a cab.  Within fifteen minutes she was at the Institute and after dropping off her luggage in Errol’s office, she headed to his class to surprise him.
    The class of about fifteen students had only one male.  The others were all young females who looked at Errol like a god.  Pretty, bright-eyed, eager and sprite, they all had the same look in their eyes.  That look of adoration, of hunger, of curiosity.
    A sudden pang of insecure jealousy strangled Tar as she stood watching Errol smile at the young students.  His eyes sparkled and his smile was warm.  He was all sex and charm… and completely approachable; too approachable.
    Taryn scanned the room of pretty girls.  A few were too obvious, making the conquest for Errol too easy and therefore unattractive to him.  Others were eager to seduce him, but the look in their eyes bordered on desperation.  She knew Errol would never want a desperate woman.  But a few of them, barely a handful, were as pure, innocent and naively enamored with him as she had been.
    How long would it take Errol to forget her and choose a new conquest?  How long before he grew hungry for female companionship and succumbed to one of his beautiful, young students?  How long before he tired of this game of flying from New York to Paris and back to New York again?
    Probably not very long.  After all, if he could have a pretty girl on his arm at all times, right here in Paris, why bother with the trouble of a girl who is all the way over in New York.
    The thought made her physically ill and she leaned against the wall for support.  She loved him, with all her heart, but her insecurities were quickly taking over.
    Maybe it was too good to be true; believing that he could possibly settle down and marry a girl like her.  Men like him didn’t marry girls like her.  They rarely married at all.  And if they did, they went on to have numerous mistresses, some as early as the very first weeks of marriage.
    She suddenly thought of the friend who wanted to buy his apartment.  Could Errol, one day, find an apartment in which he’d regularly go find his lover?
    His class was almost over.  Taryn’s heart wanted to reach out to Errol, to talk to him about her doubts.  She wanted him to reassure her, to tell her that he loved her… and only her.
    But her pride also told her to hold her head up high and be strong.  She couldn’t possibly spend all her time questioning and doubting him.  What kind of relationship would that be?
    Just as the pretty girls and the lone guy left the large room and Taryn was about to enter, a tall and beautiful woman entered by the rear door; Madame X. Oozing confidence and sex appeal, she sauntered up to Errol, her brow cocked in arousal and