Chapter 1

"Mr. Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream"

I see him everyday. He comes into my shop every morning except for Sundays and orders a venti cappuccino with extra cream at exactly seven AM. He always wears huge ornate sunglasses which on any other straight man would look ridiculous, but somehow makes him look even more cute than he already is. His style is incredible. If its not ten rings on each finger or leopard print jackets, its red leather pants and crazy dreadlock hair. I see him everyday.

And yet I still haven't asked him his name.

This morning I took an extra twenty minutes getting ready. I curled my hair into tight spirals and slopped it on top of my head loosely, making sure that some curls came loose around my face strategically. I put on my make up expertly, made sure that my eyes were smoky and my cheeks rosy. I even went as far as to wear my dangling pendant just above my cleavage for Gods sakes! There were plenty of men who gave me attention, but I wasn't interested in them. I wanted Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream to look at me like that. I wanted him to tell me that I looked ravishing this morning. I wanted him to notice me.

I sat in my car an extra fifteen minutes. The clock reminds me that I had to open ten minutes ago, but I feel so nervous and self conscious I cant seem to make my legs respond. I lower my visor and stare into my own reflection. Blue eyes stare back at me, eyes that I'm not so sure that I recognize. Fiery red hair glistens in the morning sunrise and nearly blinds me. Who is this girl? Was this me?

Anger. I slap my visor back up against the ceiling where it belongs and I nearly kick my rickety rusted door off its hinges. The cold December air chills me straight to the bone and I groan, my breath leaving my mouth in an exaggerated white cloud. My sneakers slide in the slushy snow and I throw my arms out wide to steady myself. Damn this weather, and damn Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream for making me so self conscious!

The door of the tiny coffee shop mocks me, the reflection of the girl I think I may know wobbling closer to meet me. I grumble as I fish around in my pockets for the keys. Chap stick, a pen, a few hair elastics… where the hell were my keys? My heart beat heavily in my ears, panic creeping its way up my spine and spreading a cold dread throughout my stomach. If I had to go home to get my keys, I would be in huge trouble for sure! I was late enough opening as it was!

"Are you looking for these?"

The voice is smooth, husky, created for singing and each word carried a lilting quality that promised me that he did. I knew that voice. I knew it so well, it was what woke me up at seven in the morning. I looked down at my wristwatch and inwardly groaned. Seven AM, on the dot. I looked over my shoulder and nearly melted. Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream held my embarrassingly girly keychain in his cream colored palm, extended patiently for me to take it from him. His eyes were the strangest color, almost an amber and seemed like they could consume you entirely. His skin was smooth alabaster, lips carved for kissing, jaw strong and masculine, throat… I blinked.

"Uhm, thank you." I whispered as I reached out with a shaky hand and retrieved my keys from him.

He smiled.

I melted.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, cheeks flush from the cold.

I jammed the key into the lock and shoved the door open as quickly as I could.

We both remained silent.

My face felt like it had been dipped in lava. I hoped to high Heaven as I flipped on light switch after light switch that he wouldn't notice. He walked behind me slowly as I went about my opening process, one hand reaching up to pull at the collar of his black coat and loosen his leopard print scarf. His hair had been tied off in the back with his own dreadlock I noticed as I shuffled around the store counter and threw my coat into the kitchen, his bangs straightened to a silky smoothness I hadn't thought humanly possible. Could he get any more gorgeous?

He smiled again, his right brow twitching upwards just slightly as our eyes met. I about-faced on my heel, heart hammering beneath my ribs so loudly I was almost positive he could hear it from where he stood, my cheeks so red he could mistake it for my hair. What was with that smile? He had never smiled at me before like that!

I grabbed a venti cup and turned on the cappuccino machine, keeping my back to him as I filled it and waited for it to brew. The silence between us dragged on for what seemed like days, he sniffled periodically but other than that I couldn't bring myself to muster the courage that speaking with him required. Should I turn on some music? Music would definitely make this a tad bit less uncomfortable.

I turned to head into the backroom, placing the cup on the edge of the counter to fill later when I was caught in that beautiful gaze once again. Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream was leaning against my counter with his perfect face resting between his long fingered hands. His lips curled ever so slightly at the edges, eyes dreamy beneath long dark lashes. Oh god, he didn't even have to move and he could kill me. How sad was I?

"Music." I murmured, which I'm nearly positive was inaudible to humans, and unsteadily inched my way towards the employee doorway.

"Music?" He had heard me. "What kind of music do you like?"

Oh, I like all kinds of music. I really enjoy myself rock music, and I knew that I should be telling him all this information instead of repeating it inside my head like some kind of bag lady! Okay, take a deep breath!

I inhaled loudly.

Gather your courage!

I closed my eyes briefly.

Now talk to him!

I opened my mouth to speak, "Music."

Embarrassment had me yet again in its ugly claws and I sped to the door now within my reach and opened it quickly and ducked inside. My breath came in low quick gasps. This was ridiculous. I shouldn't be acting this way! I had never had this issue before, it had always been normal when he came in to get his usual, so why now? Helena wasn't working today… and JoAnne had today off… maybe it was the fact that it was just the two of us, alone in this god forsaken hell hole I call my job. It felt nearly intimate, just the two of us. You saw this kind of things in movies or… or in bad fan fictions!

The back room was a mess. Decorations from last Christmas still secured with crazy glue to the ceiling dancing in the heat blasting through the vents. I had been meaning to climb up there and tear them down, but the thought of climbing up on the ladder to actually do it scared the living hell out of me. If there was one thing scarier than talking to Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream, it was heights. The mere thought made me shudder and I flipped on the radio then the speakers. The usual jams blasted through the store, songs I had already heard eight million times over the last few months, songs I should be sick of already but found myself humming anyway.

Task completed.

Shite. That meant it was time to go back out to face him. I steeled myself and shucked off the heavy fur lined sweater I had so tactically worn under my heavy plaid petticoat. The heat in the store was pleasant, so leaving my arms bare wasn't as terrible as I would have thought it would be. I grabbed my green apron from the coat hanger beside the door and pushed it open with my lower back as I threw it over my head and tied it off behind me expertly.

Mr. Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream was still at the counter, face still framed by his hands, eyes still watching me, but the music in the back ground was enough to ease the violent butterflies in my stomach to a gentle flutter that left me breathless. I managed a smile, though it could have passed for a wince instead and grabbed his cup from the counter where I had left it. The machine beeped. Wow, even for me that was some good damn timing!

I placed the cup under the spout and pushed the red button to begin filling it a tad harder than was necessary. Should I look over my shoulder? Would that just seem weird to do that? No normal person finds that kind of thing sexy. Its creepy, right?

I glance over my shoulder.

He was still smiling.

If I could have died, I would have. I wanted to turn away, pretend to be fussing with the machine but for some reason my body refusing to comply with my minds demands, and I remained staring at him like some crazed gaping mouthed fish.

"Natalia," He began, glancing at my chest.

How rude! I was about to really find my courage when I realized that my name tag was pinned just there. I managed to look away, inwardly scolding myself.

"I never noticed that that was your name." He finished.

I really liked the way he said it. He had a sort of accent, Japanese, perhaps? He was Asian, and Asian men were kind of like a guilty pleasure. Though, like Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream, they tended to have more feminine features they also had a masculinity intertwined with it. It was quite alluring.

"Oh?" Was all I could managed out in a half-way normal squeak.

"Mm."

The machine screeched to a halt and I pulled the cup away, contents nearly slopping over the sides. The small bell above the door chimed out a warning that a customer had entered the store and the cream container in my hands slipped. I yelped, a pathetic sound even to my own ears and I recovered even less gracefully. It wasn't only the cream that disobeyed me, it was the cinnamon shaker, which clumped and sank to the bottom of the cup, it was the cap, which refused to fit properly; or maybe it was just my hands, shaking so violently from embarrassment I couldn't even function. God. I must really look the fool.

I slid the cappuccino towards him as I stepped over to the register, quickly looking up to see whom had been the one to intrude on my private meeting. My heart dropped as Mr. This Isn't Hot Enough stepped into line and tapped his toe impatiently. Of all the shite luck…

"T-That'll be three dollars and--"

"Does he upset you?" Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream asked without looking over his shoulder.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Yes the intolerable man bothered me! He lived to make my job as difficult and as time consuming as humanly possible… but I wasn't about to say that aloud. I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.

"Because I can take care of that for you, if you would like."

It was the single most thoughtful thing that anyone in this place, customer or employee, had ever done for me. Being hassled by customers was second nature in this industry, you took it with a smile and hoped that they took their coffee, drank it, and would come back the next morning for the same exact thing. I couldn't stop the blush that rushed to my face and shook my head feebly. Mr. Venti Cappuccino With Extra Cream took his drink, fingers lightly brushing mine, and brought it to his lips, inhaling deeply first as he pursed his lips to drink.

"Mm. Nice and hot."

I wanted to laugh. There was no way that he could have known what my nick name for the man standing behind him was, but the fact that he said it out loud was enough to get me through the day. He didn't have to understand it, that didn't matter to me, it just made me feel like we shared something.

He slid a ten from his pocket and placed it beneath my numb fingers with a wink. "Keep the change, doll."

Doll? He called me Doll! I felt overpowered and lightheaded all at once as I watched his back recede. He paused at the door and smiled over his shoulder before stepping out into the cold morning air. How extraordinary.

"A-hem!"

I blinked. Mr. This Isn't Hot Enough glowered at me down his long hooked nose, eyes magnified from his great round glasses. I yipped and rung in the ten dollars before I plastered the fake smile to my face and asked him his order as usual. I made his coffee, took his money, rang it in, and watched him head for the door. He paused, just as he was reaching for the handle and dipped his head to take a sip. I shook my head, it never failed.

He turned on his heel and slammed the cup on the counter before me.

"This isn't hot enough." He grumbled.

"Of course its not, sir." I responded and turned to prepare him another cup of coffee.