"Shit," Evelyn muttered under her breath as she gently banged her fist into the glass window of her favorite coffeeshop. Her sigh fogged the glass, but that line was still visible. Seven people… four more than there needed to be for her to acquire a latte and make it to her morning meeting on time. If there were three or less, she could have done it. Five, she would have tried. Seven? If all of them had just been getting drip coffee, she still would be late.

"Fucking hell". She pushed herself off of the glass and ran across the street, catching the light as the flashing red hand counted down 3...2….1… That run turned into a sprint as an overzealous cabbie nearly smacked into her. Evelyn placed both hands on the hood of his car, taking precious seconds of her perfectly planned day to grace the man with a scowl, followed by two middle fingers and a little side-to-side dance.

"Ughhh, fuck me," she whispered as she scampered down the sidewalk. Coffee was needed or she was going to die. It had been a rough morning- she had awoken to a lack of both water and power. Signs in the hallways said that there was an "emergency" and utilities were suspended "until further notice". She hadn't been able to straighten her hair, and could barely see as she applied her makeup. Then, her train had paused on the bridge for a little too long. She needed some goddamn coffee.

As she rounded the final corner to her office, she noticed the new little quirky coffeeshop there. Fancy latte places were a dime a dozen in Manhattan, with awkward yupster types hugging macbooks cramming them to the seams. But this place was new, and seemed quiet. The staff wore bright colors- a true anomaly to the landscape. Plus, they sold pie, which was so two summers ago.

She peeked through the window. No line. "Ah, what the hell," she said to herself as she pushed open the door.

A surly looking teenager was behind the counter as she walked in. The girl didn't even make eye contact or welcome Evelyn as she opened the door. No wonder this place didn't have a fucking line. Evelyn gazed down at some of the pastries, wondering if maybe she should make today her cheat day, when she was surprised by a lilting voice.

"Good morning, miss".

She raised her eyes to meet with the most incredible face she had ever seen. His blonde hair nearly matched the gold of his eyes. His stubble had overgrown to the point of nearly being a beard, but not quite. Had he been wearing a beanie, or guages, or not had that huge scar on his lip, he would have looked quite the hipster type. His accent was some form of British- she wasn't well versed, so she wasn't sure, and he looked positively ripped, at least on his forearms, which were covered in religious tattoos. Crosses and roses.

"Is there something you'd like?" He asked, a smile on those lips.

"Uh… yes. Yes, there is," she nearly laughed as she answered, feeling a bit flummoxed. Guys almost never had this effect on her, but this barista…

"Then what can I do for you?"

"Uh…" All she could think about were the things she wanted him to do to her. "A very large latte with skim milk and an extra shot of espresso, please".

"Will that be a super ventissimo or a grande largo?" He gracefully waved an arm to the chalkboard menu above him. As he moved, dog tags fell out from the collar of his plaid shirt to hang over his unfortunate bright purple apron.

"How high and hopped up on Starbucks was your boss when he came up with that?" she asked, nearly winking at him. Winking? What the ever loving fuck was she doing? Since when did she wink? She had to get to work.

"Uh, well, you see…" He reached up one hand to rub the back of his neck. "That, you know, would be me. I'm the owner," he grimaced with the confession.

"Oh. Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to offend,' she stammered. Of course she would fuck it up immediately with this gorgeous guy.

He rubbed a bizarre pattern on his forearms, which she now noticed were littered with tiny scars under the tattoos. "No worries. I don't really look the type, I know, but, yeah. This is my place. Welcome to Temple Coffee," he said with a flourish. "I'm crafting you the biggest latte we have".

"Right. Thanks," was all she was able to mutter before he swung behind the counter to make her drink. She immediately took out her phone to check the time, and was surprised to see that she was okay- there were still a full five minutes before the design committee check-in. Bull and Krem had been spending the entire day prior coming up with a new level concept for their upcoming game, and Leliana had been effortlessly running the QA effort on the prior levels, trying to break them to the best of her ability. Apparently Lel had encountered some sort of massive bug that crashed on slightly outdated operating systems, and Evelyn was going to have to try to fix it before the meeting with her project manager, Josephine, who then had to report to upper management.

"One perfect latte, just for you," he smiled, as he placed the drink in front of her. My god, it was huge. And it had a well-made heart shape on the top of it.

She set her phone down on the counter as she rummaged around in her purse. "What do I owe you," she asked, taking out her wallet.

"This is your first time here, right?"

"Yeah".

"Then, you owe me nothing. First drink is always on the house at Temple's". He reached under the counter and produced a piece of paper. "Every tenth drink is free too, if you want one of these loyalty cards".

"Really, you're not going to charge me for this giant thing?" she questioned in slight disbelief.

He smirked, and his voice dropped to a lower, darker pitch. "It's my pleasure to make a nice drink for a lovely woman like you... especially if it means you come back".

Evelyn took a moment to look at his nametag. Cullen. What a cool name.

"Well Cullen, then I guess you'll be seeing me again tomorrow morning," she said as she placed a lid and a sleeve on her cup.

She reached out to grab her phone off of the counter, and he placed his hand over hers. The touch nearly made her jump with surprise, but miraculously, she kept her cool. Looking up through her eyelashes, her gaze met his.

Cullen smiled, and stroked her hand with his thumb. "I'd like that".

She pulled back, placing her phone in her pocket, and grinning so much that you could see her smile in her eyes. "Me too".

Evelyn ran out of the coffeeshop to make her meeting on time, and Cullen enjoyed watching her leave. Jesus Christ, she was beautiful. He was stunned when he saw through the windows that she had gone into the office building right across the street. She worked right there! Maybe he would actually see her again.

The teenage girl, Sera, came out from the back and threw a rag at his face. He caught it in midair with two fingers, and used it to wipe his brow, repeating their exchange over and over again in his head.

I'd like that. Me too.

He leaned up against the counter, closed his eyes, folded his arms, grinned, and whispered to himself-..."You said that".