Inevitable Read Free

chose to tap into it.
    Ryan’s smile finally faded. “Emma.”
    Her eyes widened. “Ha! I knew you recognized me.”
    â€œLong time no see.”
    â€œNot long enough. Why are you here?”
    He glanced around. “I’m attending a party.”
    â€œWith or without an invitation?”
    One thing he’d learned about the delicious EmmaBlack, after working side by side with her for a year—she never minced words. Tact was not always at the top of her to-do list either. “What are you doing here?” he countered.
    â€œYou didn’t answer my question.”
    â€œYou’re right, I didn’t.” He eyed a couple who passed them on the way to the open bar. “I do have an invite, although it wasn’t necessarily sent to me personally. Perhaps you’d like to alert security that I’m crashing and have them drag me out. Would that make you feel good about yourself?”
    â€œIt might.”
    He forced a smile. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. I’m not up to anything nefarious.”
    â€œI find that hard to believe.”
    He held out his hand. “Let’s put the past behind us, Emma.”
    She eyed his hand as if it were covered in fungus. “Right, like I’m going to touch you so you can get a read on me.”
    All agents with PARA, current and former, were psychic. The majority were either empathic—those able to sense emotions and feelings from other people through touch—or clairvoyant—those able to communicate with ghosts and sense important things from objects or places without relying on the usual five senses.
    In their partnership, Ryan was the people person and Emma dealt with all the other stuff. His empathic ability had never been very strong and he had to work hard to get any kind of reading at all. He also had to do it through skin to skin contact. Some empaths were strong enough to get a sense of another just from being in the same room with them. Not Ryan. He was a one on a scale of one to five, maybe a two on a good day. His gift was more likestrong intuition rather than total psychic ability. But he’d made it work for himself and his low-end ability had never really given him any problems on the job.
    He was much better with cars, really. Tinkering with cars, sensing what made them work—or not work—was his true talent. And his true love. It wasn’t related to his psychic ability, but it might as well have been. He felt he had a sixth sense about cars. But that hadn’t been put to much use as a PARA agent.
    One thing he had going for himself as an empath was that other empaths couldn’t get a read on him. This was both a blessing and a curse since it meant that his secrets remained secrets.
    â€œRead you?” He gave her an innocent look. “I wouldn’t do something shady like that without your permission.”
    â€œYou don’t need to read me. I can tell you what I’m feeling—disgusted. And a little nauseous.”
    â€œThe shrimp pâté is a bit questionable. I’d stay away from the caviar as well. Nasty stuff.”
    Her cheeks went a bit flushed. He was surprised that he seemed to be able to affect her just with a few words. She must really hate him, even after all this time.
    He wished the feeling was mutual.
    Since he’d been fired from PARA for theft, he’d worked a lot of jobs to make ends meet. In a week he was scheduled to move down to Florida to work with his brother in a high-end garage taking care of luxury vehicles. It was a dream job for him.
    However, he had a little bit of business to clear up first before he left.
    Emma looked up at him. He was six-two, so even with the highest heels she was still at a height disadvantage. But what she lacked in stature, she made up for inattitude. Their gazes locked and he felt something stir inside him. Desire. He found her just as gorgeous as he ever had and she affected