Back Where It Began

Chapter 1

Chapter 1Sylvia and Wes Hamilton had gotten back in contact a month ago, April 20th, on f******k. They had been friends in high school, but had lost contact through the years. She remembered having the biggest crush on him. They have been friends on f******k now for years. But one day Wes had posted a photo of his Suzuki Hayabusa about a month after she had sold her Honda CBR RR 600, and she commented about the bike. From there it went to casual talks on Messenger until they had finally exchanged phone numbers and started occasional text messages. He finally asked her to come back to their hometown for a visit, so they could go for a ride. Of course, she said yes!

The following week she called him to let him know that she would be heading down on Friday. She had cleared her work schedule for that afternoon. He suggested that she come straight to his house, and they could have dinner.

When she got done with all of her work Friday, she packed up her BMW and headed southeast to her hometown of Vero Beach, Florida. It was a beautiful spring day. She texted Wes to let him know that she was on the road and would see him soon. She was excited and looking forward to catching up with an old friend and riding again.

As she got closer to the coast of Florida, she felt like she could smell the salt air coming off the Atlantic Ocean. She knew she was still too far away to smell it, but she always got so happy to come home to the beach. She liked living in Orlando, but there was no place like home, and she missed the beach.

As she pulled into Wes’s driveway, she never thought for a million years how much her life would change. They had been sending messages back and forth for a few weeks just catching up, but when she parked the car, the butterflies started in her stomach almost made her throw up. I can’t believe I am sitting in the driveway of the man I spent so many memories with in high school. With the man I had wanted so much more than to just be his friend and never had the nerve to tell him. I was scared I would loose his friendship if he hadn’t felt the same. Now I am sitting here thirteen years later fixing to hang out again.

She looked at the clock and it was about 5 p.m. She had left her home office around 3:30 p.m. He said he would be home around 5 p.m. and that he would throw some hamburgers on the grill for dinner for them. She hoped she wasn’t getting here before he got home. She should have left a little later to make sure he would be home before she got here, but the excitement had kicked in, and she was ready to go. The great thing about being the owner was she worked from home most of the time, and had managers who ran the day-to-day operations at the stores. She did all the purchasing of the inventory from home and would go out to each of the stores at least once a week to drop in unannounced to check on things. This made traveling easy because she didn’t have to be at the stores at all.

Wes was handsome and built like a model with a personality that lit up a room!! But friends they were, and friends was all she could see them being. Orlando was about an hour and a half away. There she owned four boutiques and had no intentions on moving back to her small beach community hometown where it was hard to find a good paying job. There was no way they could be more than friends because of that, she thought. An hour and a half may not seem far, but when you think about the issue that she had trusting men right now, any amount of distance would not work. She had to keep any thoughts other than that one out of her mind.

She got out the car and walked up to the front door where he immediately met her. One look at that handsome man with a body built like a football player, abs that you could see through his t-shirt and looked like they went on for days, and she could barely control herself.

Wes took one look at this gorgeous blue-eyed, blond haired woman with a tan that he would bet had no tan lines, and a body that would make any man stop and admire, and he remembered all the reasons he had a crush on her in high school. They exchanged a hug and said hello before he led her into the house.

They set in his living room talking for hours. They had spent countless hours on the phone catching up and just getting to know each other all over again, but it was as if they hadn’t touched the surface. They had not seen each other or spoken in thirteen years since they had graduated from high school until about four weeks ago. They laughed, watched TV, and really enjoyed the conversations. They had briefly talked on the phone about their failed relationships and being business owners. Tonight, however, they went into depth conversations about those relationships. How they had failed and their feelings about them. She felt so bad for him. She lost a long-lasting boyfriend. He had lost his marriage. She thought about Bryan and even though all of her long hours had eventually pushed him away, he had been so supportive in the beginning which had given her the push and encouragement she had needed to start her own business. But as for Wes, his ex-wife had just up and left when he started his business, giving him no support at all just grieve and headaches. She knew that if that had been her as his wife, she would have supported, encouraged, and even helped him obtain his goals and dreams. She had even told him as much.

Five hours later she got up to head to her parent’s house where she would be spending the weekend. He walked her out to the car.

“I really enjoyed the time spent catching up tonight,” Sylvia said.

“I really enjoyed it too. I am glad you were able to make the trip home. I will see you in the morning around 10:00 a.m., sound good?” Wes replied.

“That sounds great. I can’t wait for our ride! And of course, spending the day with you!” she laughed.

Wes laughed and said, “Well I am glad I come in at least second to my motorcycle!”

They both laughed hysterically now. She proceeded to get into her car, and he leaned in and gave her a hug and gently kissed her cheek.

When she had gotten to her parent’s house, she took a shower and laid down for the night. She tossed and turned for hours before finally falling asleep. She had really enjoyed the time spent just talking. It amazed her that they had so much in common, how easily they had clicked and the comfortable way they were with each other. But what she really couldn’t get out of her mind was the smell of his cologne, the sound of his voice, the touch of his hands and that soft gentle kiss on the cheek.

She woke up that Saturday morning and even though she had not gotten a lot of sleep, she felt so energized and ready for the day. She ate breakfast with her parents, and then set outside on the porch taking in the salt air and beautiful sunny day. The sunny days in her hometown just seemed so much more relaxing and beautiful than the ones in the city. She tried to just relax and clear her mind, but all she really wanted to do was jump up and drive to his house. It was still too early to go. They had agreed on her arriving at 10 a.m. and it was only 8:30 a.m. He lived about twenty minutes from her parents, so she left and headed to his house at 9:35 a.m.

Pulling up into his driveway today was a different feeling than the day before. The butterflies were gone. She wasn’t nervous to spend time with him anymore because the day before it had felt so natural to be with him. She walked up to the door and knocked. As soon as he opened the door she smiled and hoped he didn’t see the glow that she knew she had. If anyone had ever asked her if she believed in love at first site, she would have told them no. She still wouldn’t say that she actually did, but she was definitely feeling something. She was surprised to see a big smile on his face as well when he opened the door.

They both said hello and gave each other a hug. He planted another soft gentle kiss on her cheek. Why did that make her feel like she would melt, she thought.

“How did you sleep last night?” Wes asked her when they set down on the couch.

“I slept fine. It took me a while to fall asleep though,” Sylvia replied, “How about you?”

Wes replied, “I slept like a log! I figured we could take the bike and drive down the coast for the day, grab lunch and then head back here throw something on the grill for dinner and relax. Does that sound good to you?”

“That sounds great to me. I am excited to ride and spend the day with you.” After she said that she thought about how it may sound. She was hoping he didn’t catch it the way she said it. Even though she meant it that way, she didn’t want to express it that way to him. She had meant to say something more like, spending the day with an old friend or hanging out. Maybe he would catch it that way since they used to spend a lot of time together senior year.

“Okay the let’s get the bike out of the garage, grab our gear and get on the road,” Wes replied. She couldn’t tell by his facial expression how he had taken her comment, good or bad he didn’t let on at all.

He backed the bike out of the garage, and she grabbed the helmets. They put on their helmets and jumped on the bike and headed south. She missed riding so much. She had to buy another bike soon. The force of the wind, the power under her, it was all a thrill to her, the faster the better. It took all of two minutes of those thoughts for her mind to catch up with what her body was feeling. As she set with her arms around him, all she could feel were the hard muscles under his shirt. Man, what a six-pack! Her legs close to his could feel the muscles in his thighs. Everything female organ in her body was on alert thinking of what it would feel like to be all wrapped up around him, under him, and on top of him. Oh my God! She needed to stop having these thoughts and get back to enjoying the ride. As soon as she said ride, her body went right back to thinking about riding him and not the bike. But she knew she had to get it together and pay attention to the bike ride. The more they were both paying attention and being in sync the safer they would be.

Wes was glad she was behind him and not sitting in front of him. He could feel himself rising. From the moment she walked up on the porch this morning all he wanted was to do was wrap himself all around her. The way she smiled alone lit a fire in his bones. The sweet smell of her skin when he hugged her took his body into overdrive. And right now, with her body wrapped around him on the bike, he almost couldn’t control himself. He wanted to pull over somewhere off the highway and lean her over the seat of the motorcycle. He had to stop thinking like this. He knew that’s not what she came for, and she wasn’t looking for it either. At least not now.