Read Online My Map of You by Isabelle Broom - Free Book Online

Then again, Aidan would probably remember the bathroom floor more than he would the state of her face.
    Rooted to the spot by the wet-cement effect of total and utter humiliation, Holly listened as Aidan made his way back into the bathroom, clanking a bit this time with
what she assumed must be some sort of toolbox. He definitely had the look of a man that would have a proper toolbox – and one that he would actually use, rather than the smart-looking one wrapped in cellophane that Rupert kept in the cupboard under his kitchen sink.
    ‘Holly?’ Oh God, he was calling for her. With some effort, she unglued her bare feet from the tiled floor and tiptoed back to the bathroom doorway. She was still wearing Rupert’s T-shirt and the blanket, which she snatched up away from the rancid water.
    ‘Do you have a bucket?’ he asked. He was down on all fours now, one gloved hand poised and ready to plunge.
    ‘I … Um … I don’t know,’ Holly stuttered. Why was she behaving like such a moron? ‘I’ll go and check,’ she added quickly, seeing a frown begin to form on his face. Once downstairs, she discovered a bucket, bleach and a whole heap of sponges and cloths stuffed into a cupboard in the kitchen. Pausing at her suitcase to pull on a pair of denim shorts, she took the whole lot up to the bathroom and gingerly placed them on the floor next to where Aidan was now rummaging about in the toilet. He didn’t need any help, he told her, but a cup of tea would be nice.
    Thank God she’d picked up some milk the night before, she thought, carefully decanting water from the large bottle in the fridge into the kettle and readying two mugs that she’d found on a low shelf beside the cooker. While the kettle chugged away, Holly ran a brush through her hair and cleaned her teeth over the sink. Her hands were still shaking when she poured out the boiling water.
    As she waited for Aidan to reappear, Holly spotted her phone on the coffee table and realised with a pang that
she still hadn’t sent a message to Rupert. She wondered what would have happened if he had been here with her when the toilet decided to explode. The thought of Rupert down on his hands and knees, elbow-deep in sewage, was so absurd that Holly found herself laughing out loud.
    ‘Glad you see the funny side.’
    It was Aidan, coming down the stairs looking slightly more flustered and a lot damper than he had before.
    ‘I wasn’t laughing at … I was just … Here you go.’ Holly held out his mug.
    He took a sip, staring at her over the rim. ‘This is a good cup of tea. It’s the one thing the Greeks are terrible at, making tea. Their coffee is probably the best in the world, but their tea tastes like horse piss.’
    ‘Thank you for fixing the, erm, problem in the bathroom.’ Holly flushed crimson.
    ‘No trouble,’ he told her. He was drinking his tea very quickly. The poor man must be desperate to get away from her. Holly knew she should make small talk, ask him about himself or remark on the weather, but it was hard to concentrate on chit-chat with a man so blatantly good-looking. Even as the thought entered her head, she felt guilty. Plus, there was something about Aidan that made her feel on edge. When he looked at her, she felt like he could see right through all the body armour she’d painstakingly bolted around herself. That was ridiculous, though – he’d only just met her. She must simply be feeling vulnerable because he’d caught her looking so utterly hideous.
    ‘So,’ he said eventually. ‘When was the last time you spoke to your Auntie Sandra?’
    Holly gulped. Should she lie? Somehow she knew that Aidan wouldn’t fall for it. ‘I never met her,’ she told him, taking an aggressive swig of tea and almost choking as the scalding liquid hit the back of her throat. ‘I didn’t even know she existed until about a week ago.’
    For the first time since she’d opened the door to him, Aidan seemed to lose a layer of his unflappable cool.