Read Online Maximum Exposure by Alison Kent - Smithson Group SG-5 10 - Maximum Exposure - Free Book Online Page A

his place of employment—”
    “I see that.” Parks held up one of the shots Finn had taken of Green arguing on the sidewalk with the Latino. “That’s Tomás Bebé. Carmen’s boyfriend.”
    One mystery solved. Er, part of it, anyway. “Carmen?”
    “Carmen Miranda Jones. She and Roland are the managers of Splash & Flambé. Tomás runs a hotshot delivery service, which Livia uses.”
    Livia. Not Olivia. Yeah, Parks had to be her gallery owner friend who wanted the photographs of her doing her thing. Finn wasn’t sure he wanted to dwell on why. “Livia. That would be Olivia Hammond?”
    Parks glanced over, his eyes hidden by what Finn figured were designer sunglasses costing a mint. “You know Livia?”
    Finn shrugged, looked back out across the water, at the far horizon. “I met her. I don’t think that counts as knowing her.”
    It was a loaded comment, one heavy with unasked questions. Finn knew Dustin could give him some of the answers; he was familiar enough with Olivia to know she let people look, and to want pictures of her doing the same. But Finn had a thing for privacy, a hard respect for confidentiality. And though Olivia hadn’t told him to keep mum on their arrangement, it went against the grain to talk about one job to a client who’d hired him for another.
    “You’re right,” Parks finally said. “Meeting Livia and knowing her are worlds apart. We’ve been friends forever. And I still don’t know but half of her secrets. She is very jealous of the ones she keeps to herself.”
    Finn didn’t say anything. He just nodded politely, biting his tongue for propriety’s sake and his sanity. Dustin not knowing all there was of Olivia had Finn’s investigator’s antennae singing.
    “Get to know her, McLain. I insist.”
    What? Talk about out of nowhere. “Insist on what?”
    “That you get to know Livia Hammond. She works too hard. She doesn’t date. She needs to date. She needs a fling.”
    Finn’s ears perked higher than a Great Dane’s.
    Parks sat forward in his chair, bracing both forearms on his crossed knee. He cast Finn a sly glance, his sunglasses hiding his eyes, not his intent. “You seem very laid-back. Livia could use that in her life.”
    “Her life probably needs someone laid-back who’ll be around. I don’t plan to be in Miami much longer.”
    “I’m not planning a wedding here, McLain. Though a night out wouldn’t be out of the question.”
    What was the question? “Are you setting me up?”
    Parks launched out of his chair, turned, and stared down at Finn. “Tomorrow night. Come to my gallery. I’m hosting a private showing for an exhibit that will open on Friday. Livia will be there. It’s evening casual, and you’re welcome to whatever you can find in my closet.”
    This was the last time Finn left home without packing for every occasion. He might not like being manipulated, but he did like the idea of seeing Olivia without her putting on a facade to see him. “On one condition.”
    “Which is?”
    “Don’t tell her I’ll be there.”
    Parks’s mouth slid into a smile. “You know her better than you’re letting on, don’t you?”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “You want to watch her, to see what she does, without her being aware that you’re looking on.”
    Finn reached for his coffee. It was tepid, the rim of the mug salty. He drained the contents, anyway, deciding Parks’s comment was best left alone. “You have a card with the address? And what time should I be there?”
    Parks pulled a pen and small leather case from his pocket, jotted a note on the back of a card, and then handed it to Finn. “Eight, and call my assistant Jodi if you need directions.”
    Tapping the card against the table, Finn asked, “Do you want me to stick with Green a while longer? Or do you have what you need?” What Finn had was a big, fat zero. He’d discovered nothing about Green’s personal life except that he spent a lot of it alone.
    Parks looked away, as if he