Maximum Exposure Read Online Free PDF Page B

brilliant—especially when he’d explained that it wasn’t the woman’s body he was interested in putting on display.
    What he was most interested in was the look in her eyes, her facial expressions, capturing the elusive motivations that drove her, and teasing his audience with what was going on in her mind.
    Eyes closed as she leaned back in her chair, Jodi remembered how consumed Dustin had seemed with the project, and how infectious she’d found his enthusiasm. She’d questioned him about the logistics of such a photo exhibit, queried him on what model and photographer he had in mind.
    And then they’d entered Splash & Flambé, and her eyes had connected with those of the man who she hadn’t been able to get out of her mind since.
    He wasn’t anything like the men to whom she was usually attracted. She went for suave and smooth, enjoying men who knew their way around women, a room, the world. Men who were more than breadwinners. Men who could put a bakery out of business if their morning toast was stale.
    She’d grown up having nothing, living on leftovers, living in hand-me-downs. Two part-time jobs had got her through her first year of college. During the second, she’d realized there were any number of men who frequented the coffee shop where she’d worked as a barista eager to take her under their wing, expand her horizons, tutor her on the ways of the world, and pay her tuition while they did.
    All she had to give them in exchange was free access to her body—a win-win situation that educated her on the opposite sex so completely, she found it hard to relate to her own. She liked that men didn’t apologize for their arrogance, but considered it their right.
    And, yes, she knew there were men who were jerks, who abused the stronger-sex theory, proving they didn’t know shit about strength. Those weren’t the men she was talking about, or the ones she was attracted to, the ones whose tutelage had opened her eyes.
    Which brought her back to eyes. Roland Green’s eyes. She wondered if he had any idea of the things she’d seen when their gazes had met. The frustration, the impatience, the depth of both that spoke of a dissatisfaction she related to more than he’d ever know. It was the need for change, the same one that had sent her from Atlanta to Miami, a change that had saved her sanity, if not her life.
    What she’d seen in Roland’s eyes didn’t fit. Not his personality. Not his position at Splash & Flambé. Not the way he’d told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted nothing to do with her physically. She didn’t buy any of it. She knew more about men than most women ever would, and whatever he was hiding or avoiding or running from, she would find out.
    “Jodi? What are you still doing here? I thought you’d gone home hours ago.”
    Jodi opened her eyes to find Dustin standing in her doorway. She sat forward, shoved back her hair, and smiled. “I’m too tired to go home.”
    “Well, that sounds like a decidedly depressing state of affairs. I’m sorry I’ve been working you so hard.”
    “You haven’t been,” she assured him. “I’ve loved getting ready for the show. It’s going to be such a hit.”
    “I agree.” Nodding, he leaned a shoulder against her open office door. “Who knew naked women and their cats could be so much fun?”
    If he only knew, she mused, with a private chuckle, forcing herself out of her chair and reaching for her Coach satchel. “We’ll have a full house Thursday night.”
    “Good,” he said, rubbing his hands together with glee.
    At least she supposed it was glee, though he was missing the mad scientist cackle. “I invited someone. He wasn’t on the list. I hope you don’t mind.”
    “A date? Why would I mind you bringing a date? After all the work you’ve done, you deserve to make a night of it.”
    She planned to make what she could of it, but here was where it got tricky. “It’s not actually a date. Not in a romantic way.”
    Now