Mondays were shit.

Jared had never thought otherwise, but now more than ever, he hated Wednesdays. The brief but explosive beginning to his weekend had rocked his world to the core, and yet the thing that had spun his world on its axis had pushed him away.

She had pushed him away.

And losing a chance to be with a woman like Felicity, it made him fucking hate today. Fucking Mondays.

He walked into his office at Pimms & Associates and dropped his leather briefcase into one of the two black armchairs facing his large desk. Then he stripped off his gray mélange virgin wool suit jacket and flung it over the back of one chair before he studied the surface of his desk.

It was a battlefield littered with paper bodies. Contracts, sales agreements, licenses, and everything else related to his work was all here, a ready distraction. But for the first time his heart wasn’t in it. He’d spent the rest of Sunday in a foul mood. Alone. Tanner and Layla had tiptoed around him after he’d all but snarled like a beast at the first mention of Felicity. He’d told himself to let it go, that focusing on her wasn’t productive or healthy.

She was a kid. Too young for him to date seriously. She had a life ahead of her, decisions about her career that could take her far away from Illinois, far from him. He shouldn’t be so…attached. Attached, God, he sounded pathetic, but he was somehow connected to her.

That kiss on the couch and the one in Sabine’s conference room had bound him to Felicity with invisible strings. He knew he should want to shake them off, enjoy being single, but it didn’t feel right. He wasn’t like Thad or Angelo. He didn’t play the field. He was a one-woman kind of guy when it came to dating. What the hell was he supposed to do if his one woman was running from him and running from herself? The memory of seeing her doubt and pain, so stark and sharp in her eyes, as though her life was at risk, knifed his heart. Why was she so afraid to trust him? Why didn’t she think she was good enough?

“Jared.” A feminine voice pulled him from his thoughts. He glanced up to see Shana Pimms, his ex, standing in his doorway. Her long blond hair was pulled into a sleek chignon, and she wore a black suit jacket and matching pencil skirt. He knew her enough to know she preferred pantsuits, but her father insisted female attorneys wear skirts in the office.

“Hey,” he greeted, offering her a smile he didn’t even remotely feel.

Her brows drew together in concern. “Are you okay? You look awful.” She blushed and glanced at the floor as though embarrassed she’d said that. They’d been so close…once. Before her father and their jobs had driven a chasm between them.

When her words finally registered, he looked down at himself. His clothes were freshly pressed and clean, but there was something unkempt about him, probably the fact that his hair was a mess, and he felt like shit. Dressing well and looking sharp had always been natural to him, but the last few days he’d been too distracted to focus on little things like shaving.

“I had a rough weekend. What’s up?” He rose from his chair.

Shana only shook her head, a troubled expression on her face. “It’s nothing. We’re having a meeting in five minutes in the main conference room. Just wanted you to know.” She tucked a strand of loose hair behind her right ear and returned a smile just as melancholy as his before she left. Pity for her filled him.

When they’d been together in law school, she’d been so wild, so free and fun. It was what had drawn him to her when they first met. They’d connected as friends more than lovers. However, with the weight of her parents’ expectations that she become a Super Lawyer—especially her father’s expectations in the last few years—any fire in Shana had been extinguished. She wasn’t in love with real estate law, not like Jared was. Her passion lay with adoptions and family law, but her father refused to let her practice that. Getting a job in Chicago without his help and influence was impossible, so she’d resigned herself to practicing in an area she wasn’t passionate about.

Jared rummaged around his desk until he found a yellow legal pad and a pen before he headed for the conference room. Pimms & Associates was on the twelfth floor of their building and housed about forty attorneys, six of whom were partners and the rest associates. The modern-style offices were cool and impressive, from the gold letters of the firm name hanging on the wall behind the receptionist’s desk, to the huge conference room with flat screens and expensive teleconference and video conference technology.

Shana’s father, Matthew Pimms, was already seated at the head of the table. His secretary, Alice, a pretty young woman, hovered behind him, her pen flying across a notepad as he told her what he needed to be prepared for the meeting. Shana sat in a seat as far away from her father as possible, apparently on purpose. Her own legal pad and pen were in front of her untouched. She brightened a little when Jared walked in, but then she seemed to catch herself, and grimaced when she realized her father noticed. Other attorneys were soon crawling into the conference room, legal pads and coffee in their hands.

“Redmond, over here.” Pimms pointed at the chair to the left of his.

He did that a lot, singling Jared out for favoritism. For as long as he’d worked here, Pimms had allowed him to participate in most of the heavy billable transactions. But with that privilege and the stressful workload there were the comments Pimms made, the little references to Shana and his future, always together in the same conversation. A future he had no intention of bringing about.

Once all of the attorneys recruited for the assignment were in their seats, Pimms passed around copies of a document. Jared took his paper and scanned it. A basic letter of intent for the sale of the art deco era hotel that Thad and his father were interested in purchasing, and the same project he would be working with Felicity on.

Pimms ran through the facts relayed to him by their clients and the brokers on the deal. Jared was only half listening.

“Redmond, you’ll be in charge of drafting the purchase and sale agreement. The letter of intent will set out the terms. Work with Shana on this and get in touch with the seller’s counsel immediately. The rest of you will be covering the other aspects, such as the hotel income and other pertinent information we’ll need to know when restructuring the hotel ownership. I’ll spend the rest of the meeting discussing the Worthingtons’ strategy for the purchase and the general idea behind the relaunch of the hotel.”

Jared’s phone vibrated, and he slid it out of his trouser pocket, glancing at the screen for a second, praying it would be Felicity. It was Thad.

Thad: What did you think of Felicity? I am planning to ask her out tonight. Sabine gave me her number.

Like hell! Jared swallowed the vicious growl. He had to remember where he was: in the middle of an attorney meeting. For a short time today he’d thought he could put Felicity behind him. Fucking Thad. Shit. How was he supposed to handle this?

Thad was competitive. Maybe if Jared downplayed his interest, Thad would lose interest. With a careful glance at the lawyers around him, he typed his reply.

Jared: She’s too young, no challenge. Poker night instead?

“Come on, Thad, take the bait.” His mutter drew some curious looks from the other attorneys.

Thad: Naw. Why don’t you come and bring a date. 4 of us can go to Club Amazon. 9:00 p.m., my room in VIP area.

Jared nearly crushed the phone in his hand before rationality returned. Fuck. The last thing Felicity would want would be to be trapped in a private room with Thad. Hell, she was barely twenty-four. That wouldn’t matter to Thad.

He texted Layla and told her that she needed to make plans with Felicity tonight and that it was important that Felicity was too busy if anyone else called. She irritatingly texted back within seconds.

Layla: Why?

He all but groaned in frustration. Was everyone determined to piss him off today?

Jared: A friend of mine wants to ask her out to a club tonight. She can’t go.

Layla: Who? Do I know this guy?

Jared: It’s Thad. You met him a few months ago.

Saying Thad’s name was apparently the only warning he’d needed to give. Layla’s next text was almost an audible scream.

Layla: OH HELL NO. She’s not getting anywhere near him. He’s too much for her. She can’t handle a man like that. Why aren’t you two going out?

Jared: Because she’s scared of dating me. I’m pissed off, Layla. But I can’t help her. So can you spend tonight with her?

Layla: I’ll see what I can do.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and when he looked up from his phone’s screen, he found every eye in the conference room on him.

“Something more important than this sale, Redmond?” Pimms’s steely tone was the only warning he had that he was on thin ice.

“Sorry.” He shoved the phone his pocket, snatched up his legal pad, and scribbled some random notes that meant absolutely nothing, but Pimms wouldn’t know the difference.

His boss continued to talk for a few more minutes before he ended the meeting. Jared leaped from his seat and headed for his office. If he was going to go out tonight, he was going to need to get a head start on the purchase and sale agreement.

He was just easing into his desk chair when Shana came in after him, smiling broadly.

“I just heard from Thad. He said we’re all meeting at Club Amazon at nine. He said you needed a plus-one to even out his numbers.” Shana’s grin made his heart sink.

He hadn’t invited her, hadn’t even thought to.

“Uh, right, well, I won’t be there a long time, just an hour or so,” he answered carefully. Shana didn’t seem to pick up on his hesitancy.

“That’s fine. I could just use an hour of fun. Dad’s been running me ragged these last few weeks,” she admitted with a grimace. “Some music and dancing would be good for me.”

How could he deny Shana a little fun? Thad was her friend just as much as he was Jared’s. He tried to ignore the impending disaster of having his ex and the girl he was currently fascinated with in the same place at the same time. That could only be trouble.

“Great, well, see you at nine.” He reached for the nearest group of files and attempted to look busy. He didn’t miss the way her smile faltered, but she nodded and left.

Damn, he was being an asshole today. First with Felicity and now with Shana.

Jared pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Layla.

“Yeah?” she answered, sounding distracted.

“I’m serious about tonight. Don’t let her go, okay?”

“You’re not her father, Jared, so quit acting like it.”

“Fuck, Layla, listen to me,” he almost snarled. “You know what Thad is like. Do you honestly trust him not to seduce her out of her dress? She’d be much safer with someone else. Got it?”

Layla had the audacity to laugh. “Maybe we feel like dancing tonight. Guess we’ll see you there.”

“What the fu—” She hung up before he could finish. He thought she was going to help him. What the hell had changed in the last ten minutes?

“Son of a bit—” He choked down the curse. It wasn’t like him to lose his cool. He dialed Tanner’s phone and got his voicemail.

“Tanner, don’t let Layla and Felicity go out tonight. They need to stay home. Tie your woman to your bed if you have to.” He ended the call and slapped his phone on his desk. It hit a huge stack of papers, and the thump was less gratifying than if he had smashed it on the wood. Why had Layla changed her mind? What game was she playing?

And more importantly, how was he going to handle a night of watching Felicity getting hit on by Thad without it ending in a fistfight with his best friend?