Buck's Landing (A New England Seacoast Romance) Read Online Free PDF

it in a binder, and slid it across his desk to her. “I’ve been selling commercial properties in this area for fifteen years, Ms. Buck. I’ve got a good sense of the market.”
    “I’m sure.” She forced a smile, taking the listing contracts and stowing them in the briefcase tote she hadn’t touched since she’d arrived in Hampton. The image of a briefcase in conjunction with the Landing gave her pause. There had been a developer with a briefcase once. He’d wanted to talk to her father about selling; Jimmy Buck had been sleeping off a case of Schlitz upstairs. Sofia had taken the man’s brochure and promptly run him off.
    “Mr. Landry, is there any way to guarantee the new owners won’t make significant changes to the property?”
    Kevin Landry templed his fingers. “That’s a tricky question. They can’t violate zoning, and I’m sure the property is grandfathered in to some old laws, but that’s not to say with some wheel greasing it couldn’t be torn down and rebuilt, or adapted into more of a condominium set up, even with the golf course.”
    She blew out a breath. Once it sold, it wasn’t her problem.
    He was watching her with concern. “I’m not sure why you’re asking.”
    “I don’t know. I was just curious.” She trilled her fingertips on the desk, surprised not to hear the click of manicured nails. She’d been keeping them short and unpolished for a few weeks. The constant work of running the Landing wasn’t kind to a manicure, and the only salon experience she’d had all summer was the recent pedicure with Judy. She stood, smoothing the hem of her top. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Landry. I look forward to closing this sale.”
    “Please, call me Kevin. Can I interest you in lunch?” He blushed, and Sofia really saw him for the first time that morning.
    If Kevin Landry had been selling real estate for fifteen years, he must have started in his mid-twenties, she thought. He couldn’t be more than forty. There was a sparkle in his blue eyes, hidden behind wire-rimmed glasses and a serious expression, and there was a hint of ropy strength in his tanned forearms, visible below the rolled up cuffs of his blue, Oxford dress shirt.
    An excuse formed on her tongue. She was tired of fending off the men of southern New Hampshire. For a moment the night before, she’d honestly thought of giving in and taking Silas Wilde up on his obnoxious offer. At least Kevin Landry had asked her out like a gentleman. So, why not? How better to break the strange spell Silas had woven the night before?
    “I’d like that.”
    Kevin blinked. His smile curved wide.
    The diner next door to the real estate agent’s office was new since Sofia’s college days. It was decorated as if a three-year-old’s imagination ran away with a ’60s garage sale. It should been at odds with its boutique and gallery neighbors in the stately block of brick and stone offices, but it fit. The same way Colonial architecture rubbed up against the late nineteenth century, and the modern world slipped into the spaces between.
    Over truly exceptional sandwiches, she answered his questions. “I’m an event planner for the DeVarona in D.C.” She swirled a hand cut French fry in chunky homemade ketchup.
    “But you grew up in the area?” Landry rattled the ice slightly in his iced coffee before he sipped.
    “In the apartment on the third floor at Buck’s Landing.” She sniffed wryly, but a smile pushed at her cheeks.
    “I love Hampton,” he said. “I take my kids down on my weekends. We get fried dough at Blink’s and they wear themselves out in the water.”
    She couldn’t help looking at his left ring finger. He stretched out his naked hand.
    “I’ve been divorced for five years. I’ve got a seven-year-old son and my daughter’s eleven. My ex lives over the bridge in Kittery.”
    Sofia laughed at her own reaction. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”
    Kevin’s smile turned tentative. “I wouldn’t mind