Forgiving You: A Bluebell Valley Novel Read Online Free PDF

bottle down on the shelf, his eyes still on Sam. If only she knew how he really felt about her. But he hadn’t wanted to ruin their friendship, and now it was too late. She might even be seeing someone, for all he knew.
    “I’ll see you around,” Austin sighed. Even if he wanted to give Sam more time, she probably needed more than a weekend. But by then, he would be gone.
    Austin walked around to the whiskey section and grabbed an expensive bottle he knew would help with his mood. By the time he was ready to pay, Sam had disappeared. She was gone already and his heart felt empty. Even though everything in his body told him to stay away from her, that this was just more trouble waiting to happen, his heart couldn’t be tamed: it wanted Sam, and it always had.

Chapter Six
    Sam
     
    “It was… unreal,” Sam admitted as she sunk into the couch. April was sitting in front of her, giving her a look Sam didn’t want to see. She knew she’d been awful, and the look on her friend’s face reminded her of it.
    After coming back home empty-handed, Sam had laid down on her bed, trying to make things clearer in her brain. She couldn’t have stayed a minute longer around Austin without kissing him, then kicking him in the nuts. The cocktail of emotions she was feeling was highly dangerous, and she couldn’t help thinking she was a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode. She hated herself for thinking that Austin had turned into a very sexy man, and she hated herself for being so angry at him. After all, it had been ten years. Couldn’t she just get over it? But she’d been scarred by him, and those were hard to erase. She had wanted to act like an adult and give him a chance, but she had reacted like a teenager instead.
    Everything inside her was conflicted. Sam couldn’t pretend she liked the rich and successful Austin, as he was the one who abandoned her, but she was definitely attracted to something in him. A part of her thought it was only because she hadn’t been with a man in a long time, but there was a lot more to it than just that. Austin had always been so sweet to her, and if that sweetness hadn’t disappeared, it had been replaced by a confidence she’d never seen before. While the old Austin had always done anything to avoid a fight, he hadn’t hesitated to put her back in her place. After all, Bluebell Valley was also Austin’s hometown, and she shouldn’t have acted like it wasn’t. Maybe he’d changed, but it was his home as much as it was hers.
    As she’d decided to leave without buying anything, she realized that she did want to see Austin again. Her curiosity would kill her if she didn’t. There were so many things she wanted to know about him. But at the same time, letting him into her life could only have one outcome: a big mess. Her life was comfortable and predictable. Was she ready to gamble all of it for a man who’d broken her heart once already?
    But as she’d glanced at him in the liquor store, looking at whiskey bottles, she realized Austin wasn’t happy, either. The arch in his back and the sadness in his eyes gave it away—his life wasn’t as glamorous as it sounded. He was as lonely as she was.
    “What did he say?” April asked, bringing Sam back to reality. She had told her friend what had happened earlier today since it was the only thing that she could think about. When April had arrived at her house, Sam hadn’t been able to keep it from her. She had spilled all the details about him being in town and how they had ran into each other at the liquor store.
    “He didn’t say much, really. Just hi, and then I freaked out. I was so mad at myself for even thinking that he was… good-looking… that I became a bit… aggressive. I was just so confused.”
    “Is he really that hot?” April asked with a grin on her face.
    “April! Please, come on. That’s not what we’re talking about here,” Sam replied, feeling her cheeks flare at the thought of Austin’s strong arms