I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 16
Cole led Kaitlyn away from the lingering crowd before explaining Amber. He had not spoken often about the relationship, preferring to let campus gossip bury the truth. With Kaitlyn, silence suddenly felt like another kind of lie.
Amber had cheated on him repeatedly, including with someone he once considered a friend. When Cole ended the relationship, she retaliated by spreading stories that he slept with every woman on campus and never called afterward. The reputation had followed him more faithfully than Amber ever had.
Kaitlyn remembered the admiration in her classroom and the rumors at the party. She had assumed some of them must be true. Cole admitted he had dated and enjoyed himself, but he had never treated women with the carelessness Amber described.
“That’s not me,” he said. “It never was.” The quiet hurt beneath the words surprised Kaitlyn. Cole appeared so untouchable that she had forgotten confidence could be armor.
She apologized for believing the rumors. For what it was worth, she told him, she did not think he was an asshole. The corner of his mouth lifted, and some of the tension between them eased.
Cole apologized that Amber had dragged her into their history. Kaitlyn said the blame belonged entirely to Amber. Still, the confrontation had exposed how much remained unspoken between them.
Then she remembered the photograph Amber had sent. Heat flooded her face. During the struggle, an intimate glimpse of Kaitlyn had been captured at the worst possible angle and delivered directly to Cole.
She asked whether he had received it, unable to finish describing what the picture showed. Cole’s expression supplied the answer. He had seen far more than she ever intended to reveal.
Mortification nearly overwhelmed her. Kaitlyn covered her face and declared that she might die of embarrassment. Cole asked why, his voice too innocent to be trusted.
He told her she looked good. The simple compliment carried enough heat to change the air around them. Kaitlyn ordered him not to tease and demanded he delete the image.
Cole took out his phone but did not immediately comply. He asked what she would give him in exchange. The question echoed their flirtation over the party dress, reminding both of them how easily teasing became desire.
Kaitlyn considered the challenge. She could have taken the phone or walked away, but she was tired of letting Cole determine when they approached and when they retreated. She proposed a bargain designed to test whether his restraint was as firm as he claimed.
If he deleted the photograph, she said, she would show him the real thing. Cole’s amusement vanished. He asked her to repeat the offer, as if giving her the chance to withdraw.
Kaitlyn repeated it without looking away. Cole searched her face for uncertainty and found none. He deleted the image in front of her, then held up the empty message thread as proof.
She thanked him, suddenly aware that keeping her promise required far more courage than making it. Cole told her she owed him nothing. The decency of that response made her want to close the distance even more.
Kaitlyn said a man of his word deserved a reward. Her fingers touched his shirt, and the playfulness between them became something unmistakably adult. Cole caught her wrist gently, warning that they should not do this.
Ryan’s name entered the silence without being spoken. If her brother discovered them, their lifelong friendship might not survive. Kaitlyn said she believed Cole could handle him, though neither found the prospect amusing.
She reminded Cole that she was making a choice, not being seduced into one. After Brent’s attempt to take control of her body, choosing desire for herself mattered deeply. Cole understood enough to loosen his grip on restraint.
“I need you,” Kaitlyn admitted. Cole’s eyes darkened. He answered that he needed her too, and the honesty sounded almost painful.
They moved toward each other at the same instant. The deleted photograph was forgotten as Cole’s hands found her waist and Kaitlyn lifted her mouth to his. This time no audience or enemy had provided an excuse, and neither of them could pretend the kiss was anything but a choice.