Mark of the Empress | The Empire Saga #2

Chapter Six

Crystal felt her phone vibrate in her purse, and like any busy Bostonian with an agenda to meet, she drew her attention to her handbag instead of the sidewalk in front of her. She didn't notice the individual she was about to walk into until they bumped shoulders, knocking her off balance. The phone she had just retrieved landed face down on the sidewalk at her feet.

The source of her near-collision—who happened to be a very attractive young man—caught her arm as she lost her balance and he kept her from falling backwards. They were close—uncomfortably close for any two strangers to be—and Crystal noticed that under his shaggy brown hair he had beautiful blue eyes. She must have been staring because she didn't initially hear him apologize. He released her and was reaching down for the phone by the time she realized that she ought to say something instead of standing there, mute.

"I'm so sorry, I pretty much just did everything that I hate people doing to me," she said as she bent down to take her phone, but the stranger was already standing with it in his hand, handing it over to her.

"You mean paying more attention to your phone instead of the beautiful day around you? Happens all the time." He smiled slightly. "Unfortunately, it looks as though your phone will not live to see another day."

He was right. The front glass face plate of her phone was completely shattered. Nothing she pressed brought it back to life, and she had no one to blame but herself. She felt stupid, and it must have shown on her face.

"Look, don't worry," the stranger said in a vaguely familiar accent Crystal couldn't place. He took out his wallet and started flipping through it. Crystal wasn't one to take money from strangers, but before she could protest he handed her a business card. "I work in electronics. Give me a call when you're ready and I'll fix it for you."

His smile was reassuring, and she gave him one in return. "Great, thank you, but now I really have to get going, so, maybe I'll see you soon?"

"Maybe."

Crystal stood amoment longer in awkward silence, realized that she had nothing else she couldsay, and continued walking down the street. The encounter was casual enough, soshe didn't allow it to linger on her mind more than needed. Instead, she triedto focus on figuring out what she was going to do without her phone for therest of the day.