“Want another?” Kiel asked as he tapped the empty beer bottle in front of me.

I gazed at his thick finger, and my mind filled with all kinds of dirty thoughts. Hot, naked Kiel. Wide chest brimming with muscles, hovering over me with those to-die-for bedroom eyes peering down at me. “Sure.”

I knew I should’ve left a long time ago, but when Kiel showed up at Lucky’s, I thought maybe it was meant to be. When he invited me to stay for a drink, I figured, why not? Kane wasn’t even willing to discuss helping me with the sex bit on my list, and I figured his brother would be the perfect substitute.

Still, he was a substitute. Not the real deal.

“Two beers and two vodka shots,” Kiel told the bartender before tossing me a smirk. That look reminded me of another tempting grin, and the man attached to it. The Kaino men swam in a delicious gene pool. Both were all male, all rugged, and striking. They were alphas—strong, disciplined, and so damn fine.

But where Kane was all hard edges and gruff passion, Kiel was smooth contours and sweet words. He was seduction personified in a fit, designer package.

I wasn’t sure which turned me on more. At the moment, Kiel was taking the lead.

As soon as the bartender placed the drinks on the bar, Kiel pushed the beer and shot in front of me.

Another grin that he hid behind his shot and I mimicked Kiel, shooting back the vodka, trying not to think of the last time I’d done shots. With Kane. Beautiful Kane and the night I kissed him.

I chased the shot with my beer and tightened my eyes closed, trying to block out the memory. Kane was unbelievably sexy. Women basically threw themselves at him and begged for his attention. Kiel was no different. Just a younger carbon copy of his older brother, one a little more carefree and easygoing, which was nice for a change.

“So, what has my brother’s panties in a wad?”

“How ’bout another shot?” I mumbled, motioning to the bartender. He placed two more vodka shots in front of us, and I grabbed mine before Kiel could even answer me. Explaining this to Kiel would either work to my advantage or blow up in my face entirely.

Just as the glass touched my lips, Kiel tipped his shot in my direction and smiled. The man wasn’t in a hurry to do anything, even drink. I wanted the buzz I already had to deepen and make the bullshit from the day melt away. Watching him, I held my beer between us and waited for his words of wisdom.

“May all your ups and downs be under the covers,” Kiel said and tapped his glass against mine.

I choked out a laugh, still managing to get another swig of beer down my throat. Without thinking, I watched the slow movement of his tongue against his bottom lip, and I held my breath, momentarily forgetting about anything at all but that mouth, that tongue, and where it could be put to good use.

Thoughts of Kiel naked, his fine, hard ass moving up and down as he pumped into me swarmed my mind.

Wipe it away, Kit.

Kiel’s tongue darted out again, swiping the remnants of the drink off his full lips as my head started to buzz, making it impossible for me not to think about him sexually.

“So, my brother…”

It took me a second to refocus but the mention of “brother” and the reminder of the last time I’d been in this bar eradicated that small fantasy of Kiel that had just begun.

I sighed, leaning against the bar. “He’s impossible,” I muttered. I didn’t even know if that word was big enough to describe the clusterfuck going on between Kane and me.

I hated that this stirring, this thing deep inside me, was resurfacing. I’d made it go away before, that night I saw Kane standing in the breezeway of the banquet hall the network had rented for our Christmas party. We’d only met a few weeks before and had already become friends. The attraction had been brewing since the day I’d met him, but I was sure it was all one-sided.

He’d been honest, but not to me.

“What do I think of you and Kit?” he’d asked Bill, frowning when the producer offered him a cigarette he didn’t take.

“Yeah. She’s fine, right? Think I can hit it?” Bill had been drunk and a little sloppy. Kane, though, looked sober, and I watched him in the reflection of the glass in the lobby window. They could see me standing near the doorway, and the second I heard my name, I’d stopped, wondering what my new coworkers would say about me. I’d been a little more than curious, especially to hear what Kane thought.

“No,” Kane told Bill, turning to glare down at the man. “You definitely can’t hit it. She’s out of your fucking league.”

“But not yours?” Bill had asked, his face screwed up in a sneer. “Think you’re better than me?”

“Fuck, I know I am, man. But, Kit? No way. We couldn’t touch her. Not any asshole in this building. And I suggest you don’t try. I damn sure won’t.”

Despite his promise, I couldn’t help but fall a little bit for Kane that night. He was protective, even back then. He was fiercely loyal, and I’d wanted him, all of him. But it wasn’t going to happen. Not when he promised he’d never try.

Still, it took me months to push back what I felt, until that desire became a pulse and not an electric current. After his rejection in the mountains, I realized Kane was sticking to his promise.

“He giving you shit? He was in a particularly assholeish mood today.”

I plucked at the label on my beer, tearing the paper away at the top edge and glanced at Kiel. “You know about my cousin, right?”

“Yeah.” He turned, caging my body in with his knees, one arm propped on the bar and the other holding his beer against his leg. “Sorry about that, Kit.”

I couldn’t hide my sadness, and I didn’t even bother around Kiel. Besides Kane, he was the only person I knew who wouldn’t judge me for not being the perky and always happy Kit Carlyle. “When she passed, she left me a list.”

“A list?” he said, but the half smile told me he might already know about Jess’s list.

“A bucket list filled with things I’ve always been afraid to do.”

“You’re fearless, Kit.” He smiled easily, bumping my leg with his knee. “What makes you quake?”

“Silly things.”

“Nothing’s silly.”

“You haven’t seen my list, Kiel. Kane’s helped me with a few things, but…” I took a sip of my beer, avoiding eye contact with Kiel because I wasn’t sure I could get the words out of my mouth without sounding like a horny, sexless idiot.

Kiel’s chest puffed out, and his back straightened. “My brother’s a chickenshit. I’ll do what he won’t.”

Typical brothers, those two. A few months after meeting Kane, then his brother, I’d caught on to the huge competition that was always between them. I had male friends from school with brothers as a kid. Boys always had this unspoken competition with each other. The Kaino brothers were no different. They never spoke about it, but I guessed growing up in the shadow of a brother like Kane couldn’t have been easy, not even for Kiel.

“But you don’t know what I have to do.” I shook my head when he only shrugged like nothing on Jess’s list should warrant worry. I picked one of the hardest examples just to get that grin off his handsome face. “I have to shake hands with a president.”

Kiel’s eyebrows drew down, and his lips flattened. He probably wasn’t expecting anything as big as meeting the present or even a former commander in chief to make my list of things to do before I died, but I could thank Jess for that one.

“Well…” He paused, his teeth working on his bottom lip. Damn, it was plump, and from the looks of it, velvety smooth skin that was made for kissing. “Luckily, I have a buddy who’s on the president’s detail.” He elaborated when I could only manage to gawk at him. “I should say, the former president. You know he’s coming to Seattle, right?”

I sat up straighter, my stomach fluttering. I loved the former president. He was my hero, and I’d spent an entire month on the phone trying to land a seat at the fund raiser he was speaking at in Seattle. I’d had zero luck.

“Kiel…are you serious?” I asked him, holding my breath.

“Yeah, I could probably swing a meeting somehow.”

My eyes widened, and I couldn’t help the shake that had taken over my fingers. “No way!”

He nodded slowly, a lazy smile planted firmly on his face. “That fund raiser is packed, but I could work some magic.”

“That would be amazing.” Somehow, I knew Jess would approve. She was far more political than I was, but she swore I was a secret fangirl.

“I’ll ask around tomorrow. See if I can call in a favor.”

I practically jumped onto his lap and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you. Oh my God, thank you,” I whispered against the warm, silky skin of his neck.

Kiel turned his face, and the scent of his cologne hit me. It was different from what I’d always picked up on Kane. Kiel’s scent was refined, expensive, and I couldn’t help how it worked up something inside me that felt a lot like lust. When I leaned back, trying to put space between us, Kiel tilted his head, bringing our lips so close I felt his breath skid across my mouth.

“Anything for you, Kit. Anything,” he whispered, shooting a slow, sexy look at my face, to my mouth, and up again right at my eyes.

Damn, he was good.

Slowly, I peeled my body away from his, my arms suddenly cold at the loss of contact. Kiel Kaino’s pull was undeniable and just as strong as his brother’s. Both lured me closer and sucked me in with little effort.

“You’re the best.”

“I meant what I said.” Kiel reached a hand up, grazing the tip of one finger over my cheek. “Anything you need, Kit, I’m your man.” He smiled, that perfect, white, panty-dropping Kaino smile.

His touch was soft, smooth, just like the slip of his gaze when he went on watching me, taking a second to stare before he cleared his throat and sat back, elbow again on the bar. “So…what else is on this list?”

“Um.” I turned my body forward and my gaze away from Kiel. God, this was so embarrassing. Kane knew about my lackluster sex life. There was very little we didn’t know about each other, but Kiel…he was a different story. He wasn’t my best friend. He never had been. I loved him because of his brother, but in all the years I’d known him, I’d never once thought about sleeping with him…until now. “Most things we’ve already finished.”

“Like?”

“We went zip-lining, and we’ve been training for a marathon.” I tore another piece of the label away from the bottle, rolling the scrap into a ball between my fingers, and finally glanced at Kiel.

“What else? And don’t bullshit me.” That grin returned, and for some reason, the gesture had me believing I couldn’t lie to him. Kiel cocked an eyebrow, staring at me like he expected nothing but the truth. “I know my brother doesn’t lose his shit unless…” His eyes widened as the pieces must’ve clicked into place. Placing his beer on top of the bar, he lifted his ass and pulled his stool closer to me. “You got the list?”

I nodded, and he motioned for me to hand it over. Rummaging through my purse, I pulled out the folded paper and handed it to him. It was easier for me to let him experience the list for himself than to say the words out loud. Somehow, the humiliation didn’t seem so great if I didn’t actually talk about it. That’s where Kane and I were alike. We didn’t need to speak much in order to communicate. We were on the same playing field, using our actions more than syllables, at least when it came to each other.

Kiel’s gaze moved across the paper as he rubbed his chin with one hand, running his thumb across the bottom corner of his lip. His eyebrows shot up just as I’d expected when he must have reached the one item that had Kane in a tizzy. A moment later, he folded it up, following the embedded lines and slid the paper back across the bar.

He was all confidence, a total professional as though what he was about to say was some sort of rational arrangement and not an act that would make that Kaino competition look like Monday Night RAW.

“I’ll do it,” he said quickly without so much as a hesitation in his voice. “If he won’t man up, I can fill his shoes.”

“But, Kiel…”

He placed his finger against my lips for a moment. “Shh, you’re in need, and I’m the perfect choice to help.”

Being needy was the understatement of the century. With the amount of work piled on my shoulders, I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had sex…at least, amazing sex, because lackluster fucking was typically my norm. “I really shouldn’t just sleep with anyone.”

“Who said anything about sleeping, Kit?” He raised an eyebrow and smirked, stealing my breath once again.

“Well.” I couldn’t speak, and in all honesty, could barely think. In my head, this had seemed like a good idea, but now, with Kiel sitting next to me, offering me a roll in the sack, I wasn’t as confident about ticking that particular item off the list.

But then a flash of memory came over me—Kane’s soft mouth, his strong, demanding hands…and then, him pushing me off his lap as we camped in the mountains.

Damn.

I wanted a warm mouth and big hands. I wanted my body rocked and my pussy buzzing. I wanted all that with Kane, but it was clear to me now that he wasn’t willing to help me out.

I glanced at Kiel, returning the smile he gave me, and swallowed down the doubt, wiping it from my system. This was about the list and my cousin. It was about putting the past to bed and looking toward the future. It was about being greedy and wanting to be swept away. Kane wouldn’t give me that. Kiel would.

“The only thing I can’t help you with is falling in love because I’m not the right man to fill those shoes.” Kiel shrugged, waving a hand in forced apology. Then he looked around, moving closer, and I leaned in too. “But I can fuck ya silly and make you forget your name for a little while.”

I ignored the brush of heat that colored my cheeks and offered him a smile, hoping he bought the indifference I tried to pull off with my shrug. “I’m not looking for love, Kiel.”

I already loved someone and it wasn’t Kiel, but with no hope of anything more happening between us, I could at least get lost in one Kaino and get one step closer to finishing the list and having my life return to normal.

“Then, I’m your man.”