Roadside Attraction (Castle View Series Book 2) by Lynn Cahoon

poker with the guys?” Maggie stared at Josh, not believing what she’d just heard. She’d entered some kind of alternate universe She didn’t think anyone new had been invited to the group for five or six years. For the first ten years after someone moved into St Josephs, they were labeled the new guy. And new guys weren’t to be trusted. Yet, Josh had broken that tradition in less than a night from what she’d just heard.
    He sat next to her at the bar. “Yeah, I think they thought they could roll me, but I came out all right in the game.” He leaned over the bar and poured himself a beer from the draft tap. “They want me to attend next month. I think mostly so they can get their money back. Too bad I’ll be somewhere else by then.”
    Their gazes locked. He would be gone soon. This was Maggie’s chance to have a romance without any expectations. Or any ties. Josh was the perfect man. All hot and built and totally not marriage material. Or even long-term boyfriend stuff. He would be perfect for her re-entry into the dating world. She made a quick decision. “Cari, can you lock up? I’m taking Josh back into town.”
    He drained his beer and stood putting his hand on her back. “See you tomorrow.”
    Cari waved and Maggie saw the wink Cari aimed at her. So what if her staff thought she was going to get laid. She hoped Cari was right. Maggie would show her work/life balance. She headed out the door and into the parking lot. She opened the doors, started the engine, and looked over at Josh. “You want to see something amazing? Or should I drive you directly to the motel?”
    He ran a finger up her arm, causing her skin to break out into goose bumps. “I’ll choose door number one. I don’t want to waste a single minute of our time together.”
    “You’ll like this, I promise.” She turned the car onto the road that led away from Castle View and St Josephs. Josh reached over and turned up a song on the radio, singing along with the country ballad. He had a nice voice. Another check mark on her perfect man list she’d made. In fact, if she believed in magic, she’d say she’d conjured Josh just by writing down all the things she wanted in a man. 
    As she drove, neither talked, but instead of being an uncomfortable silence, it just felt right. Like winding down from the craziness of the evening service. He had experience in the business that was apparent. Finally, her curiosity got the better of her. “So you never said where you learned to cook.”
    He turned toward her in the dark car. “You never asked.”
    Silence followed his comment. Okay then, he wasn’t going to make this easy on her. “Fine, I’m asking now. Where did you chef before? Where did you go to culinary school?”
    Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his shrug. “I told you, I went to University of Washington, or U-Dub, like Tami. I didn’t go to culinary school.”
    “And you haven’t answered my question. Is this a deep dark secret? Were you on a CIA spy mission for the last five years as their chef? Did you work for a drug lord in Mexico?”
    “You have an active imagination.” He sat his hand on her thigh and she felt the heat course through her just at his touch. “Okay, I’ll tell you the basics, but that’s all.”
    “Or you’ll have to kill me?” Maggie snuck a quick glance at him and saw the grin flash on his face.
    “Oh, I wish my story was as good as the one you’ve already made up about me.” He patted her leg, then removed his hand and ran it through his hair, pushing it back out of his eyes. She’d seen him do this motion before, mostly when he was concentrating on the recipe or what pool ball angle to use.
    “I’m all ears.”
    “Honey, you are a lot of things, but all ears is not one of them.” He looked out the window as he started telling his story. “My family runs a restaurant in Southern California. A high-end Mexican joint where they use linen napkins and serve the overpriced wine