No Sweeter Love (Sweeter in the City Book 3) by Olivia Miles Page A

stood up and left the room through the back screen door, leaving the rest of the room in silence. Barbara reached for her glass of wine, shaking her head in dismay.
    “I’d run after her, but I don’t think that’s what she wants,” she said sadly. “She needs to sort this through on her own.”
    “Still not over Will, I see,” remarked Milly, as she wedged a piece of cheddar into her mouth.
    “Some people aren’t easy to forget, I suppose. But I do wish she’d take after her brother and move on,” Barbara said, casting a glance in Claire’s direction.
    Claire reached for her wine glass and pretended not to have heard the comment as she discussed potential baby names with Leslie, who was all too happy to share her thoughts on the subject. But as she listened to Ethan’s sister go through her list, struggling over recent popularity versus tradition, Claire couldn’t help but keep an ear out for Barbara’s conversation, and she wondered, more than idly, just what she had meant when she said that Ethan had moved on.
    From whom?
     
    ***
    Ethan stared into his beer, happy that a noisy pub had been chosen for tonight’s festivities. The last thing he wanted to do was sit and talk. Besides, there was no way Kimberly would come into this place. She hated it. Always had.
    He was safe here. So really, he needed to stop looking over his shoulder every ten minutes.
    He took a long pull on his beer and flagged the waiter for another. His cousins and their friends were already rowdy, shooting pool, tossing darts, commenting on the baseball game that was playing on the television. He knew he should join in, shake himself out of this funk, because that’s all it was, a funk.
    He cursed under his breath. He was behaving like Claire, going against his own advice. He was a hypocrite. But damn it if he couldn’t help it.
    He knew what he said. He knew how he came across. A flirt. A cad. A womanizer. But that wasn’t who he was, not deep down, at least. Even though he tried, and oh, how he’d tried. To move on, to not look back, to never let it happen again.
    “Love,” he snorted aloud. “Who needs it?”
    “Don’t let Eddie hear you say that,” his cousin Dominic said, sliding next to him. “Have you seen the man tonight? Looks like he’s just seen a ghost!” He chuckled ruefully as he brought the beer to his lips.
    Ethan looked over his shoulder where Eddie was shooting pool. Sure enough, the man’s eyes looked a little glazed, and there was a confused frown to his forehead.
    “Marriage. Who needs it,” Ethan said, turning back to the game.
    “Don’t let your girlfriend hear you say that!” his cousin Rob called from the corner of the bar.
    “Don’t you worry about Claire,” Ethan said, hiding a smile. But it was true. If Claire were his girlfriend, she’d be expecting the picket fence, the kid, the yard. Things he couldn’t offer. Or maybe just things he no longer believed in.
    He frowned. Best to remember that.
    “Aw, now, you can’t fool me, Eth. We all know how you feel about marriage.” Dominic gave him a knowing smirk, and Ethan felt his back teeth graze.
    “What? I hit a nerve? You know Kimberly’s in town this weekend—”
    “Don’t go there,” Ethan said acidly, taking another long sip of his drink.
    “Hey, if you’re still hung up on her, I’ll take Claire,” called Rob, giving a wolfish grin.
    Ethan shot him a hard look. “Cut it out,” he snapped.
    “I’m just saying, she’s pretty easy on the eye. Nice ass, too.”
    “I’m warning you. Don’t speak about her like that,” Ethan hissed. His breath turned ragged as his anger burned.
    “Hey, he’s just a little drunk. Cut him some slack,” Rob’s brother, Ted, said, coming to set another round on the table. “Since when did you all get all sensitive on us?”
    “I just don’t like him speaking about Claire that way. Got it?”
    “Whoa,” Rob said, laughing until the beer sputtered from his mouth. “You’ve got it