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When Mina opened the door, Nate took one look at her, and his face turned beet red. Of course, at the sight of me, his expression darkened. I’m sure he thought he was going to have Mina all to himself for closing. But I called his bluff and followed Mina around like a bodyguard.
Finally, Mina could check off all the boxes on her closing list. All the other servers left, including Nate, and I once again had her all to myself. Just as I was about to pounce, she started walking to an elevator that was just off the kitchen. When she crooked her finger at me, I quickly joined her.
As the elevator doors opened, Mila stepped inside. After following her, I asked, “Should I be worried I’m about to be murdered?”
Mina laughed. “How can I show you my samples if I don’t take you to the basement?”
“Call me crazy, but I’d rather do sampling on the main floor.”
The elevator shot down to the basement. While I’d expected it to look dark and dank, relief filled me at the sight of a very modern setup. I followed Mina to the right where she entered a code to what looked like an underground wine cellar. When the door opened, the smell of barley filled my nose.
After flicking on the light switch, muted light filled the room, which made sense because beer needed to be stored out of light. Shelf after shelf of different colored bottles lined the walls.
“This is incredible.”
“While I’ve got a long way to go to get to where I want to be, this is still an honest start.”
“Besides brewing and bottling, are you selling anything?”
“Here and there. So far I’ve been able to get it stocked at tons of liquor stores all over North Georgia and some in Tennessee."
“Holy shit, Mina. That’s amazing.”
“Seriously, you don’t have to say that.”
“I am serious. Dead serious.” I gazed around at the multicolored bottles in absolute awe. “You really made all this yourself?”
Mina gave me a shy smile. “The beer, yes. I outsourced the manufacturing of the bottles and labels.”
“You really have a head for business.”
“And a bod for sin, eh?”
At what must’ve been my incredulous expression, she amusingly replied, “It’s from an old movie my mom loved called Working Girl. Melanie Griffith is playing this woman trying to break into the corporate world, and she says that to Harrison Ford.”
“I’ve never seen it,” I admitted.
“Then we’ll have to have a movie night,” she replied with a coy smile.
“I’d like that a lot.”
As I started around the room, I reached out to pick a bottle off the shelf. “Nerthus? That’s an interesting name.”
“It’s after German mythology. Growing up, my Oma used to read us bedtime stories about Nerthus and Freya and Thunraz.”
She smiled as she took a red bottle off the shelf. Waving it at me, she said, “I think you might know Thunraz as Thor–the god of thunder. A lot of Norse and Germanic mythology is similar.”
“Who was Nerthus?”
“She was a sacred earth goddess known for fertility.”
Although she had said the f word, the mention of that f word sent electricity crackling through the air. At the heat burning in Mina’s eyes, I swallowed hard. I reached over to take the bottle out of her hand. Without taking my eyes off of hers, I started fumbling to put them back on the shelf.
“What would you like to sample first?” she questioned breathlessly.
My gaze dropped to take in her full lips. “Something sweet and very spicy.”
“That could be Thunraz or Tiwaz.”
