Page 28 of His Dark Hunger

Multiple pairs of eyes fixed on her with glaring interest.

Fuck.

Her feet hesitated momentarily until she compelled her attention back to the plates and commanded her shoes to keep moving.

“We have Caprese salad for starters.”

She didn’t know why she’d felt the need to announce the dish. Certainly, neither she nor Kyle had talked about doing so, but in the intensity of the moment, with all of their combined concentration drilling into her, she was frantic for someone to speak.

“Thank you, Amy.” Kyle sounded as though he was repressing the urge to laugh at her performance, and her insides tightened at his mocking tone. “Please serve Roger and Stuart first.” He signaled to the men farthest away from him to indicate who he meant.

“Yes, sir.”

She cringed inwardly at the reply, attempting to placate her embarrassment at needing to refer to Kyle that way by reminding herself that all members of his staff did the same, Leonard and Stevens included. But somehow, it was different when she did it. She knew it, and so did Kyle, and she sensedthe atmosphere in the room would ensure the strangers did, too. No doubt Kyle had already shared some of those ‘differences’ as excruciating anecdotes with his peers over wine. Her muscles tensed at the perturbing thought.

“Lovely.” A man sitting opposite her sneered as he picked up his wine glass. “And you pay her for this?”

“Yes.” Kyle’s gaze was steely as Amy’s eyes darted to his for reassurance. “Amy has been in charge of cleaning and dinner service this last week. It’s been wonderful.”

“I can see why,” came the reply from the guy with the glass.

Flushing, she paused at the man nearest her, leaning to his side as she placed the salad on the table in front of him.

“Me, too.” He turned, drinking in the look of her cleavage before she could straighten. “That’s the kind of help around the house I could get used to.”

She gulped at her rising humiliation, moving around the outside of the men to serve the guy with the glass. It was one thing to revel in Kyle’s attention but something else to acknowledge the way all of them seemed interested. Sadly, the bodice of her outfit left little to the imagination—that had been the point—and it left them gawping as she moved to deliver the second plate.

“She has great tits,” the man who’d ogled her breasts decided.

“Yes,” Kyle concurred, his voice nearly a purr. “And lovely legs, too.”

Everyone seated seemed to strain to see her assets, though no one left their seat. As she placed the second plate down, the silent amplification of energy in the room ballooned, intensifying her heightened anxiety.

What was Kyle playing at, drawing all of their focus to her at once? Admittedly, he hadn’t promised her the evening would be a bed of roses, but he’d offered her solace and affection, which she’d construed to mean he’d look after her.

Evidently not.

She didn’t consider openly talking up her alleged ‘best traits’ while she was dressed up and on display for his friends to be ‘protecting her’, but then, what had she expected? She knew Kyle a little by now, didn’t she? She knew the kind of man he was and what he enjoyed. Hell, she’d relished many of his perverted little games herself, and she’d found surprising succor at his feet.

But that’s not the same.She heaved in a breath.I never wanted to be flaunted like this.

She shot him a glare, hoping he’d decipher the look for himself, but to her horror, he only appeared to be celebrating her dismay, his lips widening before he spoke again.

“One of the most amazing things about Amy,” Kyle went on, “is that she simply adores attention like this.”

What?

She blinked at him, praying she’d misheard his words, but the salacious grins on the men’s faces, coupled with her growing blush, said otherwise.

“Adoreshow?” The man she’d just served glanced up at her as she backed away.

“All of this.” Kyle gestured around them. “Being exposed and being of service.”

“Really?” The man beside him spoke that time, his brown eyes shining as he appraised the look of her. “And where did you say you found her again?”

Kyle laughed. “Amy and I kind of ran into one another, didn’t we?” His attention slid to hers, joining every other man in the room.

“Yes, sir.”

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