Read Under His Sway for Free Online

got Adrian to open his eyes and peer sidelong at me from beneath the shadowy cover of his fingers. “I bet you do, Miss Bloom.” He grumbled the whole way there, as we trekked on foot thirty minutes down a bare earthen path brushed with the broad, dark leaves of the rainforest.
    What I saw at the second project site made me halt mid-step and gape, got me excited the way few things had since my career had left me office-bound. The skeletons of three dwellings balanced solidly on stilts and raised foundations. Though they had only begun to take shape, the lines and spaces were filled with wonder and potential.
    “Indigenous designs?” I asked.” Are you planning to incorporate passive energy?” I advanced across the flat pad of cleared earth to view the building site from various angles. “Wood structures with steep roofs and high ceilings,” I said, ticking features off in my head as I noted them. This time when I turned toward Adrian, to continue my rapid-fire delivery of questions, I found his pained expression of an approaching headache replaced by an amused smirk.
    “You find my questions funny, sir?”
    “No, Chloe, I find them invigorating, even when they’re exasperating. I find you funny, and surprisingly excitable, and refreshingly imaginative. But don’t let that go your head.”
    I felt the heat of embarrassment vying with the Brazilian sun to toast the apples of my cheeks and bowed my head so slightly. “I want to help you with this, Adrian. If you’ll let me.”
    He took his time meandering toward me, letting the suggestion of a rakish grin spread only slowly over his handsome face.” I’d be a fool to turn you away, Miss Bloom, and being a fool is not on my list of shortcomings.”
    His praise hit me out of nowhere, sidelong, hard, and unexpectedly. It wasn’t like being told I was beautiful, though such a complement from Adrian Knight carried more weight with me than I would have liked to admit. It wasn’t like being told he wanted me. It was saying he valued my opinion, my expertise, my intellect. And dammit if it didn’t make him twice as alluring to me and so much more dangerous to my pretense of detachment. Even I hardly believed that fairy tale anymore, not after our session in the wee hours this morning and what he’d made me say. How willingly I’d said it. And how completely I’d meant it.
    I cleared my throat when Adrian stopped before me, his body just inches from mine, his force of presence touching me, nonetheless. Despite my urge to step up flush with him, to caress his chest and grip the soft material of his shirt in my eager hands in request of a kiss, I turned my back to the man and forced myself to focus on the buildings again.
    “Good positioning,” I said. “Raised to avoid flooding and predators. Good ventilation. I have to say it’s coming along rather quickly.” Looking over my shoulder, I asked, “Did Luiz do all this himself?”
    Adrian stood next to me, admiring the wooden frames. “No, that’s a little much to expect of one teenager, no matter the lesson I’d like to teach him. For these, I had Gabriel and Luiz and about four other staffers working with me. It might take a few weeks for us to get them done, but we really do need to test how realistic it is for local laborers to reproduce these techniques themselves, without unlimited resources and fancy equipment.”
    “You really are serious about sustainability. Enough that you’re actually helping to build these yourself?”
    Adrian held out his arms. “You don’t think a hammer fits these hands?”
    I couldn’t resist. I leaned close and drew my tongue up along the index finger of his near hand, then kissed his fingertips, before shaking my head in teasing denial. “Too smooth,” I insisted.
    His mock indignation raised his brows and bowed his mouth. “Three summers straight with Habitat for Humanity, I’ll have you know. And I did everything from frame houses to install toilets. British