I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 29
Cole waited outside the bar until Kaitlyn finally emerged alone. He had told himself he stayed only to ensure her safety, but jealousy had kept him rooted to the pavement long after Brent and Maddy were gone.
Kaitlyn stopped when he called her name. She had expected him to return home, where their problems could be hidden behind closed doors. Seeing him wait challenged the indifference she had tried to believe.
She asked whether he was angry. Cole admitted that he was furious. Honesty tightened every line of his face.
He had been angry because he could not stand another man’s hands near her. He had been angry because Brent nearly hurt her again. Beneath both reactions lay fear.
Cole said she could push him aside for a dozen fraternity idiots and he would still protect her. Whatever happened between them, he would always make certain she was safe.
Kaitlyn wanted more than rescue. She wanted him beside her before danger appeared, not waiting at a distance until a crisis gave him permission to care. Still, exhaustion softened her argument.
She asked him to take her home. Cole searched her face to make certain she was choosing him rather than surrendering to pressure. Then he opened the car door.
The drive passed in silence. Streetlights crossed Cole’s profile while Kaitlyn replayed his public claim that she belonged with him. She did not know whether the words meant love, jealousy, or responsibility.
Back at the apartment, Cole asked again whether she was all right. Kaitlyn put down her purse and faced him. Safety was no longer the question she needed answered.
If he truly cared, she said, he would have come out with her from the beginning. Instead, he hid their connection until another man touched her. His protection always arrived after his fear had already hurt her.
Cole explained that keeping the relationship private was meant to shield them both. He had not found a way for them to be together without risking his position or destroying his bond with Ryan.
Kaitlyn seized on the phrase. Did he actually want them to be together? Cole looked almost incredulous that she still needed to ask.
He wondered whether she truly could not see how he felt. Every warning, rescue, and failed attempt at distance had been shaped by feelings he did not know how to express.
Kaitlyn reminded him that a lifetime of familiarity did not grant perfect knowledge. There were things about her that would surprise him. He could not keep making choices based on the child she had been.
Cole accepted the rebuke. If assumptions were the problem, they needed to replace them with truth. The night remained young, and the apartment held enough drinks for an honest conversation.
Kaitlyn proposed a game. Each would make an assumption about the other. Whenever someone guessed wrong, that person would drink.
Cole suspected the rules were designed to trap him. Kaitlyn smiled for the first time since the bar. He accepted anyway.
Then she added another condition: a wrong assumption also required removing one piece of clothing. Cole stared at her, unsure whether the alcohol or her anger had inspired the idea.
Kaitlyn asked whether he was afraid. Pride and desire made refusal impossible. Cole said he had never been afraid of a challenge.
They carried the drinks into the living room and sat facing each other. What began as a game promised to expose every secret they had used desire to avoid—and Kaitlyn intended to ask the question that frightened them both.