Page 2 of The Switch: A Friends To Lovers Romance

Luke did what he could with the pipe and then sat in the safety of the dining room while Ashanti mopped up the mess.

She stopped and thrust the stick of the mop like a weapon. “Why aren’t you helping?”

“Hey, you called on a Sunday afternoon. I came. I did my duty. You can take care of the clean up.”

Ash placed her hands on her hips. “Is that any way to treat a lady?”

Luke glanced up and down. “What lady?” She stuck her tongue out and he laughed. “Fine. Hand me a mop.”

Chapter Two

The kitchen was a mess; she was about to cough up an obscene amount of money to get her faucet fixed; and it was hot enough to barbeque chicken on the ground, yet Ashanti felt strangely at peace.

Her eyes skipped to Luke who was silently mopping beside her. He’d rolled his shirtsleeves up to reveal his solid arms. His black hair flopped against his forehead, which was glistening with sweat.

She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Unfortunately, he was stuck with the honor of being her In Case Of An Emergency Friend, thus she called him whenever she needed major backup and felt very little remorse.

“What?” Luke stopped mopping and glared at her. “Why are you staring?”

She grinned. “Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Nothing in particular.” She studied him for a second and asked, “How are things going with the Frozen Coffee Girl?”

“What girl?” Luke asked casually. Too casually.

Ashanti wasn’t fooled. Not when she’d seen him falling in love with her own eyes.

Luke’s café was her favorite place to go when she was on a deadline. Nothing like the scent of coffee and green tea cookies to get her creative juices flowing.

One day, she walked in to find Luke smiling shyly at one of his customers.

She’d seen that besotted look a whopping number of three times since she’d known him—once for his primary school girlfriend, once for his high school girlfriend and once for a casual relationship in junior college that was doomed to fail.

Since they’d graduated university, his dating life was as dry as a piece of fruit left out on the beach. She was excited to see him showing interest in getting back on the horse.

“When are you going to grow some cahones and ask Frozen Coffee out?”

Luke’s back muscles rolled as he pushed the broom through the water. Ashanti only had one mop so she was sacrificing the broom for the cause.

“I’m not going to do that,” Luke said.

“Grow cahones or ask her out?”

Luke slanted her a look. “Guess.”

“Come on. It’s clear that you like her. And she’s into you too. I can tell.”

“Forget it.”

“What’s the problem?” When he said nothing, Ashanti guessed, “Is it because she’s black?”

“No.” He clenched his jaw. “Maybe.”

“Luke, we’re not in the eighteenth cen

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