Anna laughed. ‘Probably the same way as it always went. You were always terrible at strip poker.’
He grinned at her. ‘I seem to recall it never really mattered because it ended the same way.’
‘You cheated.’
‘Of course I did. I wanted to get you naked.’ He raised his eyebrows at her and she giggled.
* * *
An hour later, Anna had cleared some space and he’d moved some underwear into her chest of drawers. It felt like a tentative but significant step forward. There was plenty of time to talk about their future together, but at the moment he was going to enjoy making Anna smile and watch her blush a million times a day.
As he was cleaning out the wood burner, the intercom buzzed. Damn. She was ten minutes early. He’d planned to meet Zdenka outside. Not that he didn’t want Anna to know who he was meeting but it was easier not to have to explain anything.
Anna, who was downstairs cleaning the bathroom, beat him to the intercom phone.
‘Hello.’
As he descended the stairs he heard Zdenka’s bubbly voice.
‘Ah Anna, can you tell Leo I am here.’
‘Sure. Are you coming up?’
‘Tell her I’m on my way,’ interrupted Leo.
Anna looked up to where he was standing on the middle step.
‘Leo says he’s on his way down.’
‘Okay,’ said Zdenka.
Leo took the rest of the steps quickly. ‘I’m going out with her to meet a friend of hers. I … I said I’d help him with something.’ That was almost the truth. If he took the lease he would be helping Zdenka’s boss with something.
Anna gave him an understanding smile. ‘It’s fine. Like I said, we don’t have to live in each other’s pockets.’
‘I won’t be that long. I’ll be back with you and Chris before you know it.’
* * *
The long low, white building on the end of the tiny cobbled street in Vyšehrad was nothing special but Leo knew, the minute he saw it, that once the walls had been painted they’d look clean and bright. This was the first place he’d looked at and he was telling himself not to get too excited but he couldn’t quell the low-level buzzing in his belly. The location was perfect and the rent within his budget, although it would be better if he could persuade his brother to invest. Of course, if he won the competition and the equipment, that could be the clincher. And if his beer was on show at the Beer Festival that would be great publicity. Then again if Anna won it … it would be equally good for both of them.
Leo’s eyes roved around the outside of the building, noting the good-sized, although very overgrown, garden with its little weed-infested cobbled path winding through the heavy shrubbery to a solid, if cobweb-encrusted, wooden door.
‘And here you have good access for deliveries, with parking,’ said, Tomáš, Zdenka’s boss, pointing to the rutted lane at the side of the building.
Leo nodded as Tomáš took a bunch of keys out of his messenger bag and invited Leo and Zdenka to follow him. In his pocket in his heavy down jacket Leo crossed his fingers. The outside needed a lot of work but it was just work. Labour rather than rebuilding. He had to hope that the building was structurally sound. He could bet Jan would help, and Michaela. It could be their winter project and he would reciprocate at thechatain the summer. Although he was getting ahead of himself. The inside could be a disaster.
Inside, the first big room, empty of any furniture, was echoey and very chilly but not, to his relief, damp. The vaulted ceiling needed painting and sported a fiesta of cobweb bunting. The terracotta floor was sound, although in need of a good clean. What made Leo smile was the size. It would make the perfect taproom. It didn’t take much to picture where he would put the bar and the taps, or where the tanks could go. Now he wished he had brought Anna, to share with her the ideas that were bubbling up and to listen to the suggestions she was bound to make. Damn, he should have brought her. She would love it.
‘And here are the cellars,’ said Tomáš, leading them into a second room. ‘It was a small winery many years ago but the owner died and his children are not interested in starting again.’
Leo nodded.
Zdenka pushed her hands deeper into her coat pockets. ‘It’s a lot of work. Very old-fashioned. I would want something more contemporary. Easier to start a business, not having to worry about making the building right.’
Leo nodded. He didn’t want to seem too keen, not in front of her boss. Most people took him at face value, but he did share some of his brother Raph’s business acumen. He would definitely negotiate on the rent. He was going to make an offer on this place. It felt right … although he had to check a few other things first. They spent another twenty minutes walking around the building, with Leo praying that Anna was wrong about his poker face. He really wanted this place. She would love it, too. He played it very cool, agreeing with Zdenka every time she drew his attention to a fault or a flaw. Tomáš didn’t seem to mind this at all. Either his English wasn’t very good or he had a soft spot for Zdenka, because he met each of her comments with an indulgent smile. In fact, Leo realised it was definitely the latter, when Tomáš’s gaze lingered on Zdenka’s face when she wasn’t looking. Poor guy had it bad, but then Leo ought to empathise: he had it bad for Anna. And he wasn’t going to mess it up this time. He was going to prove to everyone, not just her, that he had staying power and that he could be relied upon. This place was going to be the start of something. Something he and Anna could build together.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
