Arrhythmia Read Free

again so quickly that I slipped and slid about four steps on my ass.
    No time for pain. Must buy concert tickets!
    I left the building half walking, half running, half limping. Kahnstrasse was pretty close, so I left my old Ford where it was and rushed along the pedestrian path toward the center of town. This “center” consisted of a church, a bank, the middle school, and a pedestrian area the size of a big parking space.
    On my way, I had to dodge at least seven bicycling geriatric maniacs and avoided catastrophe only thanks to my years of watching action movies.
    I was drenched in sweat, out of breath, and limping when I finally spotted the shop with the ticket office. I realized I should make myself presentable, so I slowed down and tried to force my blond mane into something that might generously be described as a ponytail. Unless tamed by a brush, my hair always acted like a pubescent teenager and resisted me in every imaginable way.
    Distracted by these exertions, I didn’t notice the man bursting out of the store until I crashed into him. The collision made me drop my wallet, which I’d had clenched under one arm while I was wrestling with my hair.
    That’s when luck decided to show its cruelest side by making my wallet’s coin pocket open up and spill its abundant contents across the asphalt in a cheerfully jingling way.
    I heard this disaster unfold before I saw it because my face was still pressed against the obstacle it had collided with, which appeared to be red and smelled unbelievably good.
    It slowly dawned on me that the red color belonged to a T-shirt and, since the T-shirt’s wearer was definitely breathing, that it must not be a mannequin. I staggered back and found my suspicions confirmed: I had been pressing my face against a male stranger’s chest.
    My gaze slowly wandered upward and stopped at the sight of the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.
    It was only then that I understood the true meaning of the term “baby blues.”
    The depth and beauty of that color was so captivating that I forgot about anything else. It was like an ocean I wanted to dive into and lose myself in.
    A friendly voice tore me from my reverie. “Everything OK?”
    It took a moment for my brain to grasp the totality of my embarrassment. Reality finally hit, and I hastened to take another step backward. I looked down and gasped. “Damn it!” I said, squatting to collect the fugitive coins.
    “I’m really sorry,” said the man. “By the time I saw you, it was too late.” He crouched to help me hunt for coins.
    “No, no!” I protested. “It’s my fault. I was totally not paying attention.”
    Soon, we’d caught the last errant cent. I stood up slowly. My butt complained about its recent encounter with the stairs, and I failed to suppress a groan.
    “Are you hurt?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
    I shook my head and stole another look at him.
    Oh my God, those eyes!
    “Eh . . . no. I just fell down some stairs a couple minutes ago,” I stammered.
    “Today’s just not your day, is it?” he laughed, handing me a handful of coins.
    I managed a smile and realized that I was blushing furiously.
    What? Me, blush? What the hell is wrong with you, Lena?
    I had long ago put a stop to the ditzy habit of letting guys make me blush. Feeling my cheeks grow strangely hot in defiance of all that poise I’d cultivated made me take a closer look at the stranger.
    Oh my God, what a man!
    He was taller than I by about a head and extremely athletic looking. His hair was black, and the dark shade of three-day stubble lent him a somewhat roguish look. And I’ve already mentioned those impressively blue eyes. They sparkled from behind thick, dark lashes and were even more attractive as part of the full package.
    He looked like a fantasy fling from a vacation in Southern Europe. There was sex written all over him.
    The thought of sex brought my attention back to the current state of my own appearance. Having lost