Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
H e stretched, his body languorous and soft, and smiled, sated with the high of good sex and a feeling of blissed-out contentment. All he needed now was coffee and his life would be complete.
Next to him, a warm body nestled into him, soft legs entangled with his, and he slowly opened his eyes for the second time that morning.
He smiled as the memories and emotions from last night flooded into his brain.
‘You’re looking very pleased with yourself,’ she murmured, her nose nuzzled into his neck.
‘I don’t recall there being any complaints,’ he said, leaning in to kiss her.
‘None here,’ she said, her eyes softening. ‘Although I do need to get up.’
‘What for? It’s Sunday. We could stay in bed all day.’ He wrapped his arms around her waist, wondering whether he should mention where he was going with Zdeňka later that afternoon. Should he take Anna with him?
‘It’s half-past eleven.’
‘You’re no fun,’ he grumbled, smoothing a hand over her hair.
She giggled. ‘We’ve already had seconds this morning.’
‘And what’s wrong with thirds?’
‘I’ll go and put some coffee on.’ She gave him a quick smirk, knowing that she could always bribe him with a caffeine fix.
He managed to steal one last kiss before she slipped out of bed, grabbed her robe and left the room. With a contented sigh, he flopped back into the pillows, hands behind his head, and gave in to another luxuriating stretch before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Clothes were strewn across the floor on his side of the bed. His eyes fell on the square bottle of Jo Malone Blackberry & Bay body lotion Anna had always used on her soft silky skin before she slid into bed beside him. He lifted the bottle, squirted a tiny bit on the back of his hand and brought it up to his nose. The familiar scent almost floored him, and he had to take a moment to steady himself against the kaleidoscope whirl of memories that hurled themselves at him. He put a hand out to hold onto the shelf beside the bed.
For a moment he stood calming himself, taking long slow breaths in and careful breaths out. This time would be different. He would take things steadily, show Anna that he was reliable and that they had a future together. Maybe they’d married too quickly. He’d seized the moment, perhaps been too impulsive, and Anna, rather than believe that it was because he loved her so much he couldn’t help himself, had thought it quixotic. Much as his family had. When their marriage broke up, his brother Raph, the sensible one, had told him he’d been ‘rash and foolhardy’.
Second time around he was going to be much better prepared. There’d be no surprises. No one could accuse him of not thinking things through properly. He frowned. He’d been thinking of taking Anna with him this afternoon but maybe it was better if he didn’t. Perhaps he should wait. He wanted to have a conversation with Raph, to prove that he’d thought this through properly and to ask for his support and advice.
This was the first place he was going to look at. He didn’t want to be accused of being ‘rash and foolhardy’ again. It would be better to talk to his brother and see if the place had potential before he said anything to Anna.
* * *
‘I was going to suggest going out for a walk,’ said Anna, pulling up her jeans, ‘but it looks cold out.’ She gestured at the low grey clouds filling the sky and the lingering fingers of frost around the edge of the window frame. ‘Maybe a day for a fire and film.’ She gave him a smile, conjuring up memories of Sundays after late shifts, when they hadn’t bothered dressing and had watched Avengers films together. ‘I haven’t seen Thor for a while.’ Now her smile was teasing.
‘What is it with Chris Hemsworth?’ Leo grinned at her as he sat in his towel on the end of her bed. ‘He’s really nothing special, you know.’
Anna laughed. ‘And you are?’ It was a conversation they’d had a time or two before.
‘I’m here, that’s the difference.’
‘You are.’ She leaned over and kissed him. ‘I guess I can make do.’
He kissed her back. ‘Unfortunately, I have an appointment this afternoon.’ Even as he said the words, he regretted them. They didn’t sound like him and even though it was the truth, it sounded like an evasion.
‘Oh, right,’ said Anna. ‘Not to worry. Looks like I’ll have Chris all to myself.’
‘I arranged it the other day. I’m meeting someone.’ Now it sounded defensive or as if he was making excuses.
‘Leo. I know we live together but that’s by accident rather than design. You still have your own life. Us sleeping together doesn’t change that.’ She flicked a glance towards the open door of her bedroom, then towards his.
That little sliver of panic sliced into him. ‘Sleeping together?’ He couldn’t keep the sharpness out of the question.
Anna caught her lip between her teeth and lifted her shoulders. He noticed that she deliberately didn’t say anything.
He held out a hand and took hers in his, linking his fingers through hers. ‘It’s more than that. A lot more.’
‘A lot more,’ she said, nodding in agreement with a gentle smile, and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Relief shimmered through him.
‘I was thinking about moving some clothes into a drawer here.’ He needed to make it clear that there was some permanence to this. For him this was the future.
‘Good idea. Then you don’t sit there naked while I’m dressing.’ She nodded at the towel around his waist.
‘Oh, I like watching you get dressed.’
‘Creep,’ she teased. ‘And we don’t live in each other’s pockets. I’m going to curl up and watch a film, although I might get you to light the stove and then you can go out and face the cold while I stay here nice and toasty.’
While part of Leo wanted to explain where he was going, the other half wanted to keep things under wraps for the time being. He didn’t want to say anything until he had some firm plans.
‘Perhaps when I get back, we could open a bottle of wine, get out the cards, play strip poker and see where the night goes.’
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 Zdeňka 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 Zdeňka’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 Zdeňka.
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 Zdeňka’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 Vy?ehrad 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, Tomá?, Zdeňka’s boss, pointing to the rutted lane at the side of the building.
Leo nodded as Tomá? took a bunch of keys out of his messenger bag and invited Leo and Zdeňka 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 the chata in 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 Tomá?, 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.
Zdeňka 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 Zdeňka every time she drew his attention to a fault or a flaw. Tomá? didn’t seem to mind this at all. Either his English wasn’t very good or he had a soft spot for Zdeňka, because he met each of her comments with an indulgent smile. In fact, Leo realised it was definitely the latter, when Tomá?’s gaze lingered on Zdeňka’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.