Strangers

His name

Taylor took her eyes off the computer screen and turned her gaze to the printed documents the secretary had brought her an hour earlier. She had to read them before going to the meeting. But she hadn't even begun to do so.
She started to read the documents, but as she flipped a page she realized that it wasn't going to be that way. Taylor read the words but didn't look at the substance at all, for her thoughts were occupied with something else entirely. Taylor tossed the documents on the table in irritation, and got up from the chair she was working in.

She thought about Alwyn. And no-one else. Or rather, not so much about him as about the pleasure he brought. It had been days since their "pact" and they still pretended not to know each other. At all. Taylor pulled out her phone and opened Joe's phone number.

She'd put him in her contacts a long time ago, but she'd never texted anything. For a while she just stared at the blank conversation, but suddenly a new message appeared

J:Hi, how about meeting me tonight?

The moment Taylor read that,she put the phone down like it was infected with something.
Blonde woman immediately turned away so she couldn't see it. She sat at the computer again, writing papers until her heartbeat become normal again. Only after that she wrote him a response

T: I don't mind. What time?
J: 8:00pm  2night. Will you be free?

Taylor said to herself, "Breathe, it's just business"

T:Ok. Just text me the address

The next message from him was an address. Taylor put her phone aside and opened Google Maps to see how to get there from the office.

Her office was in the middle of town, in the business district, and her own apartment was a little farther from downtown but also in an expensive and privileged neighborhood.

Taylor sat like a needle for the rest of the hour before the meeting. At the directors' meeting she listened inattentively to the reports, and didn't even tell off a latecomer, though everyone expected her to.

She didn't know why she was worried, she was just on her way to hook up with Alwyn, no big deal.

In the evening she stormed out of the office like a bullet as soon as the right time struck. Before woman knew it she had reached the right house.

Taylor sat in the car for a while, doing nothing but staring at the people walking down the street. Thanks to the tinted glass, she couldn't be seen. She noticed Joe go into the house, and she glanced at the phone - he showed up ten minutes early.

At eight o'clock sharp, Taylor got out of the car and had to call Joe to let her in. He came out in a white shirt and black slacks, apparently coming here just from the office, too. He silently let her in and they went into the elevator.

"Four days" Taylor broke the silence "you didn't last very long"

"Judging by the fact that you said yes, you didn't last long either" answered Joe nonchalantly, fixing his hair

"I thought about backing out, but then I decided I'm not that cruel, so I'm not gonna torture you"

"We'll have to see who's torturing who" replied Joe, still nonchalant.

The elevator stopped and Joe waited for Taylor to get out first and followed her out.

"Okay, your manners aren't as bad as I thought they'd be" said Taylor.

"You need to learn that image which you have in your head and real people are actually two different things," the man sniggered

Taylor didn't answer but went into the apartment.It was just a two-bedroom apartment. It was in a restrained color, clean and tidy. However, everything was too sterile, which gave away that no one lived there at the time. She left her purse in the hallway and asked: