Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) Read Online Free PDF

too handsome.
    After several swipes, the door lock finally gifted her a green light, and they both sighed in relief.
    The handle clicked, and the worn door creaked as she eased it open.  Nina peeked one eye inside.  The moment she did, she turned back to Jack, who’d yet to run for his life, though he seemed to still be contemplating it as he gazed longingly at the elevators.
    A long moment passed before he turned his head to meet her eyes.  The yellow hallway light flickered over his head as his eyebrows flew up high, giving her periodic gleams of the annoyance still present in his brown orbs.
    “It’s bad,” she whispered, cocking her lip.
    “You mean to tell me this substandard hotel just sold us a substandard room?  Color me shocked.”
    “Is there ever a word that comes out of your mouth that isn’t completely patronizing and condescending?” She curled her lip at him as she pushed the door back open and stepped into the room.
    Jack stepped in behind her, and when he caught sight of the room, he laughed.  The door slammed closed behind him, and his laughter grew.
    “Told you it was bad,” Nina said, crossing the room and flicking on the lamp that sat on the desk in the corner.  The bulb was weak, leaving them standing across the room from each other in semi-darkness.  Their shadows loomed deep against the peeling floral wallpaper.  “It smells a little moldy, too.”
    “And they’ve made sure none of these lights will shine bright enough to explain where that vile smell is coming from, and why.” Jack circled the room, flicking every switch and engaging every light.  Once every light was on, including the bathroom, the room was still dim.
    They held each other’s eyes across the room.
    Jack was the first to look away, eyes falling to the double beds.
    Nina looked at the beds, too, wondering if he was thinking the same thing she was—that the off-white bedding probably hadn’t been off white when it was first purchased, but had gotten that way after years of abuse.  She looked back to him and found him playing his fingers together.
    Another moment passed, and then he raised his eyes back to hers.
    Nina crossed her legs at the ankle, holding his gaze.  Her own fingers met, and she twiddled her thumbs.
    “You don’t have to do this,” Jack said.  “You don’t know me.”
    A smile bloomed on her face.  “Did you just initiate conversation? And with gracious intent?”
    “I could be a mass murderer.”
    She chortled.  “Which would require the kind of arduous commitment you will never have to give.  To murder me you would have to care…” She held up her thumb and forefinger, spreading them an inch apart.  “At least, this much.  And you don’t.  So I think I’m good.”
    He squinted at her and then shook his head with a small smile.
    “Plus, I have great instincts.  And you, Aries, are no killer.”
    The smile on his face began to vanish.
    A knock on the door sent a start through both of them.  Nina breathed out a laugh, hurrying across the room and pushing her curls out of her face before pulling the door open.
    “First aid kit?” A pale teenage boy with a face full of acne raised his eyebrows, offering Nina a noisy white tin.
    Jack moved to the bed closest to the window and sat on the edge, watching Nina thank the kid, and tip him.
    “You tipped him $20 for bringing you a first aid kit?” he asked.
    She closed the door, shooting him a look.  “I used to be a cocktail server.  It physically pains me not to tip.  I over tip.  I have to do it.  It’s in my bones.  I wouldn’t expect an Aries lawyer to understand, so no worries.”
    Jack pushed a hand into his hair and then pulled it back out.  His palm was covered in blood.
    Nina cringed.  “Doesn’t it hurt?”
    “I can’t even feel it.  I keep forgetting it’s there.”
    “That can’t be good.  Maybe we should get you to a hospital.  It’s really a lot of blood.  And it hasn’t stopped since the