Free Brazen (B-Squad #1) by Avery Flynn Page A

monstrosity. Lily Pulitzer was a certain kind of preppy Southern sorority girls’ dream designer—which is what made the outfit and the other similar ones packed in the Louis Vuitton suitcases so perfect for her cover as Bethany. People may say they didn’t, but it was human nature to categorize a person on a few visual cues and then treat them accordingly. If Bianca was seen as just another country-club newlywed out for a fun time, that’s how people would treat her, and she’d make more headway on gathering intel than she would dressed in her normal badass-bitch, head-to-toe black.
    She got up from the chair and got dressed.
    “So what’s the deal with Taz?” Elisa asked a few moments later as she zipped up the sheath dress’s back zipper.
    Everything. Nothing. She didn’t fucking know. The uncertainty of it burned a hole in her gut six miles wide. “Beyond the fact that he’s married?”
    “And yet still giving you orgasms.”
    Oh God, she hadn’t thought of it that way. Bile rose up and she clutched her hand to her stomach. “Fuck. I am the other woman.”
    “No. You are not.” Elisa whipped her around so they stood face-to-face, worry and regret clear in her eyes. “I was just giving you shit. Those two are divorced. She didn’t file the final paperwork, but it’s a done deal in every other way. Taz didn’t know she hadn’t filed it. Tamara’s the asshole here. Not him. Definitely not you.” She settled the honey-blonde wig over Bianca’s dark hair, which was tied back in a low bun. “I ripped out almost all the hair on his face for being an idiot, but even I know he wasn’t playing you for a fool.”
    The words made sense, but the pain was too sharp, the ache too big for her heart to process. “So if you think that, why’d you wax his beard off instead of just letting him shave?”
    Elisa grasped her shoulders and turned her around to face the mirror above the dresser. “Because he’s still an idiot who hurt you.”
    Looking at the preppy woman with pink cheeks, a starter tan and shoulder-length blonde hair in the mirror, Bianca couldn’t help but smile. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
    Elisa rolled her eyes. “I know your parents so I know that’s not saying much.”
    It was true. Her parents were consistently neglectful of her as a child and yet cruelly caring when it came down to anything that messed with the Sutherland family image. Every small kindness came with a consequence and each awkward hug hid a knife to the back.
    “Look,” Elisa said, giving Bianca’s shoulders a strong squeeze. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be pissed that in six months he never mentioned being married before, but you’re so ready for everyone to disappoint you that you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. After everything that happened at St. B’s and with your family, no one’s blaming you for that. But the thing is, Taz’s other shoe did drop. Now you need to stop waiting and start moving forward.”
    The question was would Bianca be doing that with or without him? It was one she didn’t have an answer for and didn’t have time to think about now. They had a mission to complete, a friend to rescue and a drug kingpin to force out of business. After that? Maybe her heart could take giving Taz a second chance.
    “Come on. We’re going to land soon and we still need to do a final team briefing.” She opened the door. “Let’s grab a coffee and get this show on the road.”

Chapter 8
    Taz
    T az leaned back against the kitchenette’s shelf and rubbed his palm against his newly shorn hair. After confronting Tamara with Camacho’s information about her arrest warrant, she’d spilled like an overfilled dog bowl. She’d confirmed everything the freelance investigator had dug up and filled in the blanks in ways that made him want to hurl. The situation with Tamara was worse than he’d figured, and the bar had already been set pretty fucking