Stripped Down by Lorelei James Read Free Book Online Page A

answer—wariness. Like he was afraid she’d pass judgment on his brother.
    As if.
    Other people’s sexual preferences weren’t her concern—she had enough issues with her own sexual needs to worry about someone else’s. “How long have you known that Cres is...?”
    “Gay?” he said softly. “He came out to us last year. Right after Sutton and London got engaged.” His eyes narrowed. “But it’s not common knowledge.”
    “Those two keep looking at each other like that in public and it will be,” Mel said dryly. She picked up her cards without really looking at them. “I’d never take it upon myself to point out the obvious to others who can’t see it.”
    “Thank God for that.”
    “Were you surprised when he came out?”
    “Honestly? Yeah. I guess the signs were there if I cared to look. He hadn’t had a serious girlfriend...ever really. Hadn’t dated any girl since high school. He didn’t like trolling the bars with me. Even before I hit pause on my libido last year, he preferred that we hang out and play video games on the weekends.”
    What did he mean… hit pause on his libido ?
    “And he always did love men’s wrestling a little too much.”
    Mel’s gaze snapped to his. “Seriously?”
    He smirked. “Nah. Just seein’ if you’re paying attention.”
    “Jerk.” She tossed her cards down. “This hand is crap. Re-deal.”
    Wynton shuffled again. Surprisingly, he kept talking. “As an adult, Cres has always seemed preoccupied. When I think back...I just wish he would’ve told us sooner. Because right after he told us, it was as if a giant weight had been lifted from him. I hated that he carried that weight at all.”
    You sweet, thoughtful man. He was a good brother—did his brothers appreciate that? “So your family is fine with everything?”
    “Cres has always been tight-lipped. But like I said, it filled in some of the pieces about Cres that hadn’t fit before. So he’s got our acceptance, and I think that’s all that really worried him. Who else he chooses to tell ain’t my concern. It sure as hell ain’t my business who he dates. I’m just happy he can be himself and date who he wants.”
    Mel held her fist out for a bump. “Amen. I’ll just throw it out there that we wouldn’t be having this conversation if Cres was on the rodeo circuit. If there’s even a whisper of that kind of relationship, they’re unofficially blackballed.”
    “That’s what Sutton said too.” Wynton dealt them each a new hand. “So tell me about your sister. You said she had an accident. What happened?”
    How did she explain this? The few times she’d bothered, she worried she’d come off sounding like a poor little rich girl or resentful, which wasn’t the case. So she usually avoided the topic entirely with men by just dropping to her knees.
    A rough-skinned hand skated up her arm. “With all that we’ve been through today, I hope you won’t start holdin’ back on me now.”
    She inhaled a deep breath and let it all spill out. “My parents are loaded, okay? One of those requirements of being a Lockhart was making sure I excelled at riding, horsemanship, dressage, the whole package. The camp I attended when my sister Alyssa was injured was an exclusive, by-invitation-only camp at a training facility for Olympic athletes. The best trainers in the world were there. So in my parent’s eyes, pulling me from camp would’ve been viewed in the same horrifying light as dropping out of the program because I couldn’t cut it. And the Lockharts couldn’t have anyone believing that of them or their human progeny.” She closed her eyes. The ache of that time had lessened but hadn’t disappeared completely.
    Wynton cupped her jaw in his hand and lifted her face to his. “Hey. If it bothers you too much to tell me—”
    “It doesn’t. I just haven’t talked about it in a while.”
    “Then I’m flattered you’re sharing all this with me.”
    “Anyway, throughout my entire life