I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 08
The noise of the fraternity house faded behind them, leaving Kaitlyn and Cole inside a private silence. Her hand remained on his arm, and his pulse beat hard beneath her fingers. Neither could retreat to ordinary conversation after everything the night had exposed.
Cole said her name as a warning, though he no longer knew which of them he meant to restrain. Kaitlyn looked up, waiting for the truth he had refused to speak. In that moment she was not Ryan’s little sister or a girl from his childhood; she was the woman he had nearly lost.
He leaned closer before judgment could intervene. Kaitlyn closed the remaining distance, and their lips met. The kiss began gently, almost questioning, but years of unspoken longing gave it a weight neither expected. His hand settled at her waist as if it belonged there, while hers rose instinctively to his chest. For a few stolen seconds, the rules that had governed them since childhood ceased to exist.
When they separated, Kaitlyn apologized through a nervous breath. Cole searched her face and admitted he had not wanted the kiss to end. Hope warmed her expression, making the next thought even crueler.
Ryan’s name struck him like cold water. His best friend had trusted Kaitlyn to his care, and Cole had just crossed the one boundary their history made sacred. He stepped backward and cursed himself.
He called the kiss a mistake and said it could never happen again. Kaitlyn’s hope disappeared. The word reduced everything she had carried for years to a lapse in judgment, and its casual cruelty hurt more than she wanted him to see. She demanded to know why, unwilling to let him hide behind a vague sense of wrongdoing.
Cole said she was too young. Kaitlyn answered with a bitter laugh; she was barely younger than he was, and moments earlier he had not looked at her like a child. Every word exposed the weakness of his excuse.
He insisted that they could not do this and told her to get some rest. Kaitlyn accused him of sending her to bed as if she were twelve. She had survived betrayal and defended herself against Brent; she did not need Cole deciding which emotions she was mature enough to feel. Cole said he could because she was behaving stubbornly, immediately proving the very point she resented.
Pain replaced anger in her eyes. She wished him good night and walked into the apartment without looking back. Cole remained outside, hating the fact that protecting Ryan’s trust meant hurting her.
He covered his face with both hands. How was he supposed to protect Kaitlyn when he was falling for her himself? The kiss lingered on his mouth, making every promise of distance feel dishonest.
Kaitlyn went to bed furious and heartsick. Cole had wanted the kiss until guilt reminded him whose sister she was. She changed out of the green dress and caught sight of his borrowed shirt, the same one she had worn during their humiliating reunion. Once again, her own desires had been dismissed by a man who believed he understood them better than she did.
Sleep finally pulled her beneath the argument. In her dream, she returned to the night outside the party, but there were no rules waiting between them. Cole reached for her openly instead of pulling away.
He told her he had fought his feelings long enough. Kaitlyn admitted she had done the same. When he touched her face, the tenderness she remembered from their first kiss deepened into adult longing.
The dream carried them beyond the restraint Cole had imposed in reality. He whispered that he needed her and was tired of pretending. There was no Ryan to betray, no age difference to exaggerate, and no morning waiting to turn tenderness into regret. Kaitlyn surrendered to the intimacy she had wanted for years, certain at last that he saw her as a woman.
She breathed his name, lost in the warmth of him. Then another voice called through the dream, sharper and more urgent. The imagined embrace dissolved.
Kaitlyn woke sitting upright in bed, breathing hard as sunlight filled the room. The vividness of the dream left heat across her skin. She covered her face, mortified by what her sleeping mind had revealed.
A knock sounded at the bedroom door. Cole called her name and asked whether she was all right. He had heard her cry out and come immediately, as he always seemed to do.
Kaitlyn stared at the door in horror. She had no idea how loudly she had said his name or what else he might have heard. Facing him after the real kiss had been difficult enough; facing him after dreaming of far more seemed impossible.
Cole knocked again, concern overcoming his determination to keep his distance. Kaitlyn tried to steady her voice and gather the blankets around herself. She rehearsed a dozen casual greetings, but each sounded false when her lips still tingled with an imagined kiss and the real one remained unresolved. Her body still remembered a dream he knew nothing about.
Only a thin wooden door separated them now. Cole believed he was checking on a harmless nightmare, while Kaitlyn struggled with the truth that the dream had been everything she wanted. When she finally reached for the handle, neither of them was prepared for another morning of pretending.