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Turning around, Lottie felt her own eyes go wide as her gaze traveled up, taking in the impeccably fitted three-piece suit and the broad chest it covered, until finally she landed on his face. His gorgeous, sculpted face with its perfectly cropped beard that held just a hint of gray. There was a dangerous edge to his expression, despite the indulgent smile he granted her as he looked down into her eyes.
“Hello, little one. You look lovely.” His gaze shifted to the woman at the desk behind Lottie. “I trust my table is ready?”
“Um, well, I’m sure it is, Master Killian, but I can’t let you up there without vetting your guest.”
Shit. After finding her three sheets to the wind in the middle of the afternoon the day before, she wouldn’t put it past Mr. Elliott to deny her entrance into the club just to teach her a lesson. It seemed like the petty kind of move he would pull, especially since the one thing she really could remember about his visit was how annoyed he’d seemed with her behavior.
“I’ve already been approved,” she blurted out, causing the woman behind the desk to narrow her eyes skeptically while Master O raised a disbelieving brow.
“I know the owner, Mr. Elliott,” she continued in a rush of words. “He’s my neighbor, and my dad’s best friend. When Master O asked me to meet him here, I went to Mr. Elliott and he said to tell you I was cleared to go in.”
“That’s not really how this works…” the woman behind the desk said, her tone and expression still openly doubtful.
“We won’t go into the pit until we speak with Braden,” Master O assured her with a flash of teeth. “But we will be going up to the restaurant so we may get to know each other better.”
With that, Master O slid his arm around Lottie’s waist and guided her toward the stairs. “That was very naughty, little one,” he murmured in her ear as they made the climb.
“What?” She was aware her voice was a little breathless, and she was even more aware of the way her stomach tightened not altogether unpleasantly at his words.
“You lied to poor Vivian. Knowing her boss as well as I do, she will likely pay a hefty price for your dishonesty.”
Guilt twisted Lottie’s stomach into a knot. “You don’t think Mr. Elliott will fire her, do you?”
They paused at the top of the stairs and Master O looked down at her, his expression full of amusement and something that looked almost like delight, but scarier. “You really have no clue what you’ve walked into, do you, little one?”
“Not really, no.” Might as well be honest at this point, especially since he seemed to have some kind of sixth sense that told him when she was lying.
“That’s what I thought. Come, let’s have a drink.”
* * *
BRADEN
Rising from his desk chair, Braden stretched, wincing a little at the pull in his lower back. Getting old was for the birds.
He made a mental note to schedule a massage as he made his way down to the lobby. “Evening, Vivian. Quiet night?”
The flash of guilt across her face did not bode well. Whether it didn’t bode well for him or for her ass still remained to be seen. “Mostly, yeah.”
“Mostly?”
“Um, well, Master O is upstairs. With a new girl.”
“That’s hardly surprising.” Killian O’Rourke rarely visited the club with the same woman. “But I don’t remember seeing a guest pass request.”
“I didn’t process a guest pass.”
Eyes narrowing, Braden pinned her with a hard glare. “And why not?”
Vivian shrank back. “She said you’d already approved her. And I know that’s not really proper protocol, but Master O said they wouldn’t go into the pit before they talked to you, and no offense Master Braden, but he kinda scares me more than you do.”
“We’ll see how you feel about that by the time I deal with your punishment for allowing an unvetted guest into my club, Vivian.” Vibrating with fury, Braden turned on his heel and stalked up the stairs to Killian’s usual table.
But just as he was approaching, the brunette tucked in beside Killian tossed her head back, her bold laughter ringing out at something he’d said, and Braden froze. Anger, need, and jealousy all welled up inside of him, overwhelming him to the point he could only stand and stare for a long moment.
Charlotte.
Charlotte was here, in his club. And she was sitting next to one of the most dangerous men in South Carolina, completely oblivious to who she was tucked so cozily against.
