Page 44 of The Switch: A Friends To Lovers Romance

“What? Uh, yeah.”

“Sorry I hung up on you earlier. We had a customer and I couldn’t talk long.”

“No problem,” she said, staring at a point somewhere over his shoulder.

Luke wiped his sweaty palms on his apron. “You want coffee?”

“Sure.”

Grateful for an excuse to leave, Luke grabbed Ashanti’s mug and filled it to the rim. He took a couple calming breaths before turning around and serving her.

She sat in the chair all the way on the end, the farthest distance from him. Her head was ducked toward her phone and she didn’t lift it once, not even when he set her cup in front of her.

“Thank you,” Ashanti mumbled.

“Yeah.”

Luke trotted to the cash register and sat behind it. His shoulders hunched and his gaze fixed on the toe of his sneakers.

Last night, he got about four hours of sleep. He should have been worrying about his second ‘break up’ with Michelle and how he could get her back. Instead, he’d beaten himself up over that kiss.

What did it mean?

Did he have feelings for Ashanti?

Luke had always seen her as just a friend. His disinterest had nothing to do with her skin color. To Luke, Ashanti was beautiful, kind and smart. But he didn’t go there with her. Not even in his own mind.

Then… why did he kiss her back?

A customer raised a hand to get his attention, sparing him from having to answer the question. He jogged to the table and took their order, heading back to the counter.

Ashanti was on her feet. She avoided his eyes and released a handful of dollar coins on the counter.

He stared at the money, not making a move to pick it up. “What’s that?”

“For the coffee,” she said.

He tilted his head, stunned. “Why are you paying for it?”

She shrugged. “It just feels like I should. We should keep our personal life where it belongs rather than blur the lines and make things messy.”

“Okay…” Luke reached out and swiped the coins into his hand. It sounded like that was more than an explanation about the coffee. “Ash, if you’re not busy tonight, can we talk?”

“About what?”

“What happened last night.”

Her head whipped up and she looked him in the eyes for the first time since she barged into the store. “Did I do something embarrassing at the bar?”

How was he supposed to answer that? “Not at the bar. No. Not unless you count moisturizing your face with soy sauce.”

“I wondered why I reeked of that this morning.”

He chuckled at the memory. “You passed out in the dumpling bowl.”

“And you didn’t wake me?”

“I tried. You were zoned out.”

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