Page 24 of The Switch: A Friends To Lovers Romance

Luke smiled and leaned his head against the couch. He could feel Ashanti’s eyes on him but he was suddenly sleepy and it was a challenge to resist his drowsiness. Maybe there was something about her couch…

“What happened?” she asked quietly.

“With what?”

“This is pretty late for a house call.” She fell quiet and, for a second, all that could be heard was the whir of the fan overhead. Ashanti broke the silence when she said, “Is it your parents?”

He sighed. “They’re not… reacting well.”

“I’m aware. I was there when your mom cursed me out in Chinese.”

“No.” He kept his eyes closed and shook his head. “They’ve been contacting me everyday.”

“Saying what?”

“Variations of what they told me the night I introduced you. Before I left the shop tonight, Uncle Eddie threatened to kick me out of the café if I didn’t give in to my parents. ”

He heard the couch moan as Ashanti scooted closer to him. “Are you okay?”

Luke considered telling her he was fine, but his presence in her house tonight would underline the falsity of that statement. “I’m just trying to… find my footing. You know? It’s like the people I’ve loved all my life have become total strangers.”

“If it’s that hard on you, maybe we should stop. I mean, the café is your life. You’ve only got a few more years on your uncle’s contract before the whole building is yours. It’s not worth it.”

“No. I don’t want to stop. I’ll see this through.”

“Luke…”

“Ash,” he said wearily. “I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up in an hour to go home.”

He held his breath as he waited for her to argue, but Ashanti remained silent and Luke drifted to sleep.

What felt like a few minutes later, he woke with a start. Morning sunlight burst through the window. He held up a hand to shade his face from the glare and yawned, squirming around on the couch to find his keys.

“I told Ash to wake me,” he mumbled, glancing around. Instead of his keys, he spotted Ashanti conked out on the opposite end of the couch.

Her black hair billowed around her head in a cloud of curls and frizz. Her nose flared slightly with every breath. It was a rare experience to be near a quiet Ashanti and he sopped up every second of it.

She looked delicate as she slept, fragile. A tender feeling welled in his chest. One that made him determined to protect her. No matter what Ashanti said, he would never use her as his shield.

Chapter Eight

Ashanti scrambled the eggs in the pot and glanced over her shoulder at Luke. He focused on peeling the oranges, a small wrinkle between his eyebrows.

She’d fallen asleep last night and had forgotten to send him home. He’d demanded breakfast in apology.

Ashanti was putting her heart and soul into the meal. This wasn’t a big enough apology for her. She had a lot to be sorry for.

“There,” Luke said, rolling the peeled orange along the counter. “Anything else you need my help with?”

She shook her head.

Luke studied her. The sunlight pooled over his black hair that was squashed against his forehead in homage to a bowl cut. His dark eyes twinkled and his lips pulled up in a shadow of a smile.

“Are you sure you’re alright? You haven’t spoken a word all morning,” he said.

“I’m fine.”

His smile faded. Luke narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “I don’t buy that. Something’s off. I can feel it.”

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