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Jax storming into the room in agitated strides and heading straight for the wet bar didn’t help matters.
He poured himself a brandy and then turned to Lex. “You didn’t tell me our butler was stunning. You said beautiful.” He sipped, clenched his jaw, then added, “Not fucking breathtaking, for Christ’s sake.”
Lex grinned. “So, you met Lily.”
“Met is not exactly the word I’d use. Instantly lusted after is much more appropriate. Jesus. She’s . . . ah, fuck.” He downed a big gulp. Stalked over to the wall of doors and windows. Stared out at the bay below.
Lex said, “I thought I’d leave it to you to get the full effect of her. I was shocked by her beauty, too. Pleasantly so. I’m thinking of telling Greta to have Lily’s things moved to one of the suites in this wing, with us. Since her primary responsibility is this floor.”
Spinning around, Jax said, “I was thinking of telling Greta to fire her.”
Lex dropped his fancy silver Montblanc pencil on the papers resting on the ledge of his piano, where he sat. He stared at his longtime friend, hearing the troubled tone.
Jax looked deeply disturbed. And highly aroused. Lex recognized the signs. He’d seen those emotions etched across Jax’s face often enough when they’d been with Katarina, either darkening or lighting his otherwise pewter-colored eyes, depending on the situation.
“This is unexpected, yes,” Lex conceded. “But she’s here, Jax. And Greta carefully vetted all the applicants. Liliana Hart was a shoo-in given her family history. Greta said showing her the ropes was a piece of cake because Lily caught on so quickly. You really want to send her away?”
Jax sipped some more before saying, “Wait’ll she comes in here in a few minutes. She was working in the kitchen to help out and kill time while we were gone. She is an absolute hot mess, complete with smudges on her face. And it’s damn provocative. A perfectly fucking beautiful, breathtaking disaster.”
Ah, that word.
Disaster.
Jax had used it on purpose.
Going back to his arrangement, Lex simply said, “She’s not Katarina. Don’t doom her from the start.”
But even as he tried to placate Jax, Lex felt dread skulk around the fringes. They’d both been thrown for one hell of a loop the evening Katarina Karlsson had joined the orchestra in Stockholm, not long after they’d celebrated their twentieth birthdays. The delicate blond-haired Swedish singer had mesmerized them with her ice-blue eyes, soft smile, and pure, crystalline voice that seeped into one’s soul and stayed there forever.
They’d fallen for her almost immediately. Hard.
And had ridden the roller coaster of a lifetime emotionally and physically with her.
Jax said, “Since Katarina, neither of us has met a woman we wanted to introduce to each other—a woman we wanted to share. Sharing Lily was one of the first things to pop into my head when I saw her with her ass in the air alongside my bed.”
Lex’s hand stilled. He glanced up at Jax. “Yeah. Thought crossed my mind as well.”
“So it’s settled. Greta cuts her a severance check in the morning.”
“Let’s not be too hasty here,” Lex insisted. “Give her a shot at doing her job.”
“Doing her job isn’t the problem, Lex.” He swooped in so that he could lower his voice. “Wanting to fuck her upon first sight is the problem.”
Once again, Lex set aside his pencil.
“You didn’t have the same reaction?” Jax challenged.
“Impossible not to. She’s sensational. And I’m damn sure she doesn’t even know it. From what I gleaned, striving to be the perfect butler is the only thing that really registers.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s the only thing. I was half naked when she was in my room. It didn’t go unnoticed.”
Lex grinned, despite the intensity of the conversation. “Not saying she didn’t like what she saw when she met me.” He winked.
Jax drained his brandy. Then said, “A complication such as this is the last thing we need. We’re on deadline, or have you forgotten?”
“I haven’t forgotten. But maybe,” Lex ventured, “a little inspiration is exactly what we need. A muse, if you will.”
They stared at each other.
