More than Winning: Cowboys and Angels, #0.5

By Anjelica Grace

I'm a man who wants for nothing in life.

My wife and children's happiness, my success riding bulls, and all of our health are my top priorities.

But with the season ending, and Christmas being near, there is one thing I want this year.

And it's the one thing that I don't know I'll be able to have.

Will Allie agree to my wish?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anjelica Grace
• Release date: May 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201495480

Book preview

Prologue

Chase

There is something about the end of rodeo season. The final ride. Final ranking. Coming home to be with my girls full time again for a while. Last year, I loved it. I rode, I was the best in the world, and I came home to enjoy Christmastime and the festivities with my family, having a little more to celebrate and be grateful for.

This year, it’s a bittersweet return home. On the one hand, I have my beautiful wife, naked and sound asleep in our bed beside me; our little girls are down the hall and will wake up with us finally home. On the other, I finished third place in the world. Third fucking place. The thought makes me grit my teeth in anger again. There were two riders who were better than me this year—according to judges. I hate it—because they weren't better than me. But politics and favoritism always get in the way. And that finish throws a wrench in everything I was hoping for.

When last season ended, Allie and I spoke about having another baby; she pointed out that being the top bull rider in the world meant more invites to other events, more traveling for me, and she would be left home alone more often than not to raise two little girls and a baby by herself. So, we agreed to wait. I was supposed to win it all this year—two times a champion—then I’d cut back, we could start trying. But that didn’t happen. And as we discussed on our flight home, I can’t quit now. I can’t.

What we didn’t discuss, though, is the fact I still want to start trying now. I want us to add on to our family so bad, yet it’s so much to ask of her.

I roll to my side and watch her sleep, gently moving a strand of hair that’s fallen over her face, and smile at the small pucker to her lips, the way she lets out the softest snores. Sliding my gaze down her body, barely covered by the sheet, I wish there was some way what we just finished could grant me my dream, without the discussion and fear of rejection to weigh us down.

What do you do when the two things you want most in life are in direct opposition to each other? When having one will prevent you from getting the other? What do you do when asking for one, while you plan on continuing the second, is selfish and not fair? I’ve tried to come up with that answer for hours now. And there isn’t a simple one.

With a glance back over my shoulder toward the clock, I see that it’s nearly five thirty. Working hours. There is no way I'll be able to sleep as it is, so I carefully and quietly roll away from my sleeping beauty, slip on my boxer briefs, and leave her warm and asleep in bed—hopeful that a day of working in the barn can clear my mind of these thoughts, and help me figure out what the hell I'm going to do without dragging her down this hole with me.

As far as she will know, I’m upset I didn’t win, because any other day, that would be my biggest problem.

Chapter 1

Allie

I watch my little girls chase each other around the kitchen island with reckless abandon, waving their frosting-covered hands in the