Stripped Down by Lorelei James Read Free Book Online Page B

I’d been groomed to win the gold medal in the Olympics while riding a Lockhart horse, thereby increasing its worth and mine.”
    “Harsh assessment, baby.”
    “But it’s true.”
    “How old is your sister?”
    “Alyssa is six years younger than me.”
    “What happened?”
    “She was at a birthday party. There were go-cart races and she crashed through a fence. The fence crushed her legs and she ended up paralyzed from the waist down.”
    His jaw dropped to the floor. After he picked it up, he said, “Keep goin’.”
    “My parents focused completely on my sister—as they should have. Alyssa was really awful after the accident. She especially hated the sight of me. She resented me. Not solely because I wasn’t by her side immediately after the accident, but because I was…whole, if that makes sense. As accomplished a horsewoman that I was, Alyssa was better. I’d always known if I’d failed to meet my parent’s expectations, the Lockharts had another shot of having an Olympian in the family with Alyssa. I stopped riding and training after her accident because I wanted to be there for her. But she didn’t want me anywhere near her. After enduring two solid months of her screaming at me to get the hell away from her, the doctors and my parents asked me to stop coming to visit her, at least until she wasn’t so angry. And because it was in Alyssa’s best interest, I left.”
    Wynton picked up her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist.
    “So while my sister recovered from a near-fatal accident, I reset my priorities.”
    “Ran away with the rodeo, did you?”
    She smiled. “Something like that. I continued to check on her, but since I was out of sight, I wasn’t on my parents’ minds. And don’t think I was resentful because I wasn’t. I was an adult. Alyssa needed them so much more than I did.”
    “Did your sister come around? Stop resenting you?”
    “Yes. I never held the way she acted against her because she suffered a horrible life-altering ordeal at such a young age. Eventually we mended all fences. But I had no interest in going back to that world and competing on the level I’d been at before her accident. After two years, Alyssa set her mind to competing again. She trained for the Paralympics and won several national equestrian championships. She’s competed in the international Paralympics, winning a silver and a bronze medal. She’s so determined to succeed for herself—not just for our parents—that she won’t quit until she’s won a gold medal. I’m so proud of her. She’s turned out to be an inspiration to so many people.”
    “I wish I had your attitude. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t. Not either time Sutton was injured. The second time I was so mad at him when he opted to go back into rodeo. It seemed selfish of him to continue. And when he was in the hospital, I stayed away. I claimed I had extra ranch work to do because Dad was at Sutton’s side, but that wasn’t the reason. I just couldn’t handle seein’ my brother like that. I don’t do well when it comes to illnesses and hospitals.”
    She experienced that familiar punch of sadness. She’d heard that so many times—not only over the last six months, but whenever she talked about her sister’s struggles. She’d walked away for her sister’s benefit—not because she couldn’t deal with it. Now their relationship was solid, but she hadn’t even considered calling Alyssa when she’d gotten her diagnosis—especially not after how their mother had reacted when she’d finally told her.
    “Hey, Kentucky, where’d you go?” he said softly.
    Mel returned her focus to him. The man had the most expressive face. More rugged than handsome, if she had to put a name to it. His features weren’t as sharply defined as either of his brother’s—Sutton Grant defined gorgeous and Cres Grant was almost pretty—but Wynton’s raw-boned features gave him an equally striking look. His hair, in the vivid brightness of