“I have a thought about that,” Reyna said. “When we walked into the safe house, I was worried. But I noticed how calm and controlled you were. I wanted to feel that way and I kind of did. I don’t know if I did it because we’re connected, but it was like I tuned in to you.”
“I noticed that.”
“What are you feeling right now?”
He arched his eyebrow. “You tell me.”
Reyna gritted her teeth and concentrated. She hadn’t reallydoneanything when it had happened last time. She had wanted to feel Beckham’s confidence and she had. She’d wanted to be able to weather the storm and she had. She’d slipped right into it like pulling on her boots.
She assessed him. He looked calm. Not a bit nervous that she wouldn’t be able to do it. The opposite of how she felt.
Mostly she felt out of her depth. When she felt him across a crowded room, it wasn’t like she was looking for him. He wasthere. She knew precisely where he was, and she simply had to think about it and he appeared. No process to it at all.
Still, she reached out with her mind and felt for his emotions. She tried to nudge against what made BeckhamBeckham. Which mostly meant standing there and staring at him in deep concentration, and nothing happened.
She blew out a heavy breath. “Epic fail. There’s nothing. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe I was calmer and more confident because you were there.”
“I feel nothing from you. Though I can see frustration written on your face.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Again.”
And again. And again. And again.
Nothing.
She tried every way they could think of. She could sense him standing there. Could count every breath. Knew when he opened and closed his eyes. Could tell where he stood in the room with her back turned and her eyes closed. But reaching beyond that was an exercise in futility.
Beckham was there.
He stood right there.
But he was a blank slate. As ever.
And she was as equally mystifying to him.
They moved on to trying to mind read. Reyna was excited about this one. Not that she wanted Beckham in her head, but she wouldn’t mind unraveling some of his greater mysteries. But all they ended up doing was staring at each other for long stretches of time and asking, “What am I thinking now?”
“You want to eat lunch,” Beckham said.
“Yes,” Reyna shouted. She jumped in the air in excitement. “You got it. You finally got it.”
“Your stomach grumbled.”
She sank back into the chair. “I’m so transparent. You don’t need to read my mind.”
“At times.”
“And you’re so closed off, I’d probably get to read your mind and find locked filing cabinets inside.”
Beckham’s lips curved on one side in amusement. That was his way of saying,Of course you would.
“We should break for lunch. You need to keep your strength up.”
“Me?” she asked. “Look at you.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Are you suggesting I’m not strong?”
