Forgiving You: A Bluebell Valley Novel Read Free Page A

close the door, his eyes staying on her a bit longer than they should have. He wondered why he didn’t appreciate his secretary’s presence more. Lisa was a hard worker, but it stopped there. She wasn’t a very interesting person, and if he was being honest, Austin knew nothing about her personal life. She never shared her interests or what movies she went to see. Maybe that was the reason why he didn’t find her attractive, even if she was beautiful.
    Since leaving Bluebell Valley, Austin had never been with a woman for more than a week. There was always something wrong with them—not enough heart, they cared more about his money than him, they didn’t have a passion that was driving them. He was around a lot of women on a daily basis, but they were all too bland. They never surprised him. He wanted a woman who would turn his world upside down, and he had yet to find one.
    Because of his status of a wealthy bachelor, it was even harder to find the right woman for him. They all wanted his thick wallet, and he couldn’t blame them from that. Since he had moved out of Bluebell Valley, ten years ago, it had changed something in him. The man he was back then had disappeared and the pressure had turned him into not just a competitive asshole, but a shallow one, as well. The careless guy who just wanted to have fun and enjoy life had turned into a greedy, corporate slave with no personal life.
    Austin remembered when he’d gone back to Bluebell Valley after his first year at MIT. He thought it would be a good idea to see the people he had stopped talking to because of his workload, but he found himself regretting that decision. That was when he’d realized how much he changed in a year. He didn’t fit in anymore in a town that used to be his.
    Finally understanding the damage he’d done to Sam, he had decided to avoid her. He hadn’t had the courage to confront her. When he had to go in town, he always made sure their paths wouldn’t cross. He didn’t want her judging him for what he had become. They had been supposed to stay friends, but Austin had to break his ties with Bluebell Valley to survive in Boston. It had been so hard on him to lose his best friend, but he knew it was the only way to get through his college program and get to where he was right now.
    Austin still felt guilty about all of it, especially now that he was on top of the world and had accomplished more than he ever expected to. He didn’t even have anybody in his life to share this burden with. He was alone and lonely.
    He had the kind of life that everyone envied, but there was something missing. He didn’t have anyone to share his secrets with, to share his life with. Even William, the closest thing he had to a best friend, wasn’t really a friend. If all of his money disappeared one day, Austin doubted the man would still stand by his side.
    Austin was on the top of the world right now, but he didn’t know how steady it was. He could fall at any minute, even if the business he had been working on for years was one of the most promising.
    Since he was a teenager, Austin had wanted to find something useful to do with his life, and he had the chance to learn how to do it while at MIT. On the side, he’d started playing with a prototype, which had helped him figure out a way to give solar panels the efficiency that they were lacking. Quickly, he was able to develop a product at a low enough cost to finally be profitable. After finishing his degree and getting a patent, he’d done a lot of marketing and built Cole Technologies, the company he was now the CEO of. His solar panels were sold worldwide, particularly in Asia and Africa. He hadn’t turned global warming upside down yet, but Cole Technologies was responsible for the reduction of worldwide greenhouse gas.
    By the age of twenty-five, Austin was already sitting on top of a fortune bigger than he had ever imagined. Since then, his teams had been working on an electrical car engine that