I’m stock still, watching as he watches me. He looks perfect as he stands there, bag hanging from his strong shoulder. His hair is disheveled and his jaw is cocked, his blue eyes are darkening as he watches me intently. This look of brooding makes him look dark and sexy. I hold the strap on my shoulder even tighter, waiting for what’s sure to come.

He slowly starts moving towards me, and with each step, my heart pounds harder. My legs feel weak, like they are going to buckle at any minute. And my stomach is doing flips, filled with nerves about how this meeting will go. All I pray for is that he forgives me. I love him, and I’m ready to say it.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him, barely above a whisper when he closes the distance between us.

“Can we talk?” His voice is deep and rough as he looks down on me through his thick lashes.

I don’t want to talk. I just want to feel his lips against mine. I don’t care why he lied. All I care about is somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him.

I nod and he grabs my hand, leading me towards the hotel that is next to the airport. He doesn’t stop or talk until he lets us into the room he had already rented for the night. He must have gotten a ticket on the same plane as me.

I let my bag slide from my shoulder onto the floor as I walk to sit on the foot of the bed.

I want to tell him everything that’s been running through my head since I left him only a few hours ago, but I want to hear what he has to say.

When my eyes land on him. He’s holding out a red, spiral-top notebook. “What’s that?” I ask him.

He takes a step closer, holding out the notebook. I take it and open the cover, revealing Katie’s handwriting. A shock jolts through me, burning a trail right to my heart.

She made him a list too.

“What is this?” I know, but I want him to say it.

“It’s my list.”

I look up at him briefly. “Katie made this for you?”

He nods slowly, eyes downcast.

I read over the first page. “Kiss a girl on the dance floor?” I quirk an eyebrow at him.

“That girl was you,” he says as he moves to my side, taking the place next to me. “After her funeral, I needed to forget for a little while. I went to that bar intending on getting hammered so I could sleep, but then I saw you on that dance floor and it was like she was giving me a sign. I knew I had to do this list.”

“Help someone who’s grieving?”

He nods once. “That was also you.”

“Meet me on the beach?” I look over at him suddenly realizing. “When did she make this list?”

His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. “Two days before her crash.”

“That is the day she wanted me to go with her to meet you.”

He nods. “I had been hearing about you since the first time I met her. I was practically in love with you before we met.”

My eyes fall back to his list. “Meet me on the beach.” This is on my list too.

“I think she was trying to set us up. She told me that she was trying to trick you into going to Miami with her. It wasn’t until I saw your list that I put two and two together. Since we couldn’t meet that day, she was going to trick us into meeting in Miami.”

My heart begins hurting all over again as I look at his list. Kiss a girl on the dance floor, did she set all this up? Was she hoping I would just happen to go to the same club to dance in public and we would meet?

“Did you go there looking for me?” I finally allow myself to look up at him.

“Not exactly. I mean, after you kissed me and walked away, I knew I had to find you again. I had no idea I’d run into you that night, but I’m glad I did.” He moves to his knees on the floor in front of me. “Don’t you see, Jovi? Katie wanted this. She knew we were meant to be together.”

Part of me wanted to give in, to believe him, but then I remembered why I was hurting. “But all of this is built on lies. Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

His hands land on my cheeks softly, forcing me to look at him, to see all the love and pain he holds within himself. “I couldn’t. I knew if I told you she was my sister, that would cause you to run. I wanted you to see me for me, not just Katie’s brother. I didn’t want you to feel more pain from looking at me, I wanted to take that away from you. I wanted you to be free, not held back. I wanted you to let your guard down. And you did. You did all of those things. You checked everything off your list.”

“There is still one thing on my list,” I whisper.

Lines appear on his forehead as his hands fall from my face. “There is?”

I nod as I lean over and pull the list from my bag. I flip to the first page and show him.

“Fall in love,” he reads before he slumps back, looking defeated. His eyes fall to the floor as his jaw tics.

“Do you have a pen?” I smile as I’m saying the words.

He looks back up at me before his lips crash against mine. His fingers tangle into my hair, pulling me closer. A tingling sensation forms in the pit of my stomach. It lights every nerve ending as it spreads through me like wildfire, completely consuming me.

I don’t know how he got to me, but he did. And he buried himself so deep inside my heart, there’s no way he’s ever leaving it. He went from a stranger who annoyed the fuck out of me, to becoming someone I love and long for.

He pulls away quickly.

“What are you doing?” I ask in a rush.

He pulls a pen from his pocket and hands it over to me.

I smile as I take it. Placing the pen to the paper, I slash through the last item on my list. I did it. I fell in love with my best friend’s half-brother. And it’s all because of her. She knew what I needed better than I did. She knew my heart when I didn’t.

Before I remove the pen from the notebook, River’s mouth is back on mine as he covers my body with his.

His hands travel from my face to my neck while I wrap my arms around him. I need to feel him against me. I lie back on the bed, pulling him up my body as I do so. He settles between my legs, pressing himself against my aching sex.

A whimper leaves me and I feel him twitch against me

He gets up to his knees and yanks his shirt off as I pull my shirt away. He’s towering over me, pushing and pulling clothes from his body. When he’s down to nothing but his white boxer-briefs that highlight the V between his hips, he lowers himself against my body again, eyes darkening and locked on mine like an animal stalking its prey.

His body is hard as it covers mine. His mouth trailing over my heated flesh teases me and causes my body to break out in goosebumps. His big hands firmly slide down my stomach, to my hips where he pushes my shorts down my thighs.

My hands are just as greedy as they tug down his boxers until his hard cock springs free and stands at attention.

When we’re both completely bare for the other, he lays me back down, taking his place on top of me.

“I love you, Jovi,” he whispers against my lips.

“I love you too, River.” When the words leave my mouth, he rears back and slams into me, making me call out.

He grinds against me, making every muscle in my body tense as my orgasm rises. I’m quivering with need as he slowly brings all our shattered pieces together, forming one picture perfect future together.

We’re not taking our time with one another. We can’t. This is hard and fast, our bodies automatic response to one another.

It’s a primal need deep inside us to completely fucking own the one we love. It’s bone deep. It can’t be ignored because it’s not something we chose. We may both be broken beyond repair with all the loss and hurt we’ve dealt with in our lives, but we find relief in each other. We found love: an earth shattering, take you over, explosive kind of love. Something that can’t be ignored no matter how hard we try. I can’t run from it. I can’t hide from it. It consumes me. It completely fucking shatters me.

He thrusts into me deep and hard. I’m calling out, he’s breathing erratically and the room is filled with the sounds of our calls of passion, as we both find our release together. My nails bite into his back as his hands hold my hips tightly. He shudders as he pushes into me one last time before he slows and comes to a stop on top of me.

He leans back so he can look into my eyes. “You did it.”

I wipe away a bead of sweat that’s forming on his brow. “I did what?”

“You finished the list. What are you going to do now?”

I smile. “Help you finish yours.”

Our lips crash together as our tongues swirl around, giving, taking, loving.

Katie knew what she was doing when she made us those lists. I can only hope she’s smiling down on us right now, happy that she got her way again.

I know a part of me will miss Katie the rest of my life, but she gave me so much. She taught me how to let go of what society deems acceptable. She taught me to laugh and have fun, how to put myself out there and accept the consequences. She gave me friends, life lessons that I will use every day, and she gave me River. Strong, wild and free, River.

He helped me in more ways than I thought possible. He helped me let go of Katie. He showed me what it was like to love and be loved. He helped me finish my list. And if I know one thing, and one thing only, it is that I will help him finish his.