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“Hey!”

I flash her an apologetic smile but keep my focus on Ronan. “Do you want to know what I think is going on here? I think you’re intimidated.”

He snorts. “By what? You or a deck of cards?”

“Both. But definitely the cards. You’re pretending not to be curious because you’re scared of what they’ll say about you.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” he replies coolly. “Especially witchy fortune cookies.”

I keep a cool, even expression, reaching for the deck again. “Then prove it. Let me do a reading for you.”

I can instantly tell how much he hates the idea, but I know him well enough to know he hates being challenged even more. “I think I’m good.”

“I repeat, you’re scared of the cards.”

“Seriously, dude, just let her do the reading,” Carter comments, arms slung around Katrina.

“Yeah.” Bryce smirks. “Letting her give you a reading will prove you’re not scared of them.”

For a brief moment, I think we have him cornered bad enough that he’s going to give in, admit he’s unsure of my hobby, and what it might make him examine. Then he gets the same cocky, confident smirk I’m used to seeing on him, and sits up straighter. “Let’s do this.”

“Seriously?” I cough to cover up the light squeak my voice gave.

He leans closer to me. “Seriously, let’s see what you’ve got, Sheridan.”

“All right.” I reach up with trembling hands to push my hair back out of my face. “It’s best if you get comfortable. Try to relax.”

Ronan makes a show of getting more comfortable in the seat across from me while I try to calm my rapidly beating heart. I’ve always found reading tarot for someone else to be a little intimate, which is why I only do it for the people I truly know and love. Whenever I do this, I’m asking them to take a deep look at their own lives, seeing if anything I’m getting from a line of cards resonates with them. Because of this, I can’t promise it’ll be something they want to hear.

“The first thing I always do is remind people I’m not a professional,” I begin, which only makes his brow arch more. “Yes, I’ve been doing this for years, and I taught Josie, but I primarily only do it for myself, not other people. Hopefully, something will resonate with you, but I can’t make promises. That would be true even if I was a professional.”

“Do people really get paid to do this?”

I ignore his dig, focusing on his green eyes even though they make my heart beat even faster. “Now, what do you want to know? No yes or no questions; the cards don’t work that way.”

“I want the same kind of reading you did for Kat, for scientific purposes.” Of course, he’s taking this to such a level, trying to determine how much he believes in it. But it feels a little like he’s determining how much he believes in me. “But I want to know about my life. My past, my present, and where I’m going with my future.”

My eyes widen. “You don’t want to zero in on anything specific? Maybe your career or your love life?”

“Nope,” he declares, eyes alight with amusement. “I want to see what you come up with for my entire life.”

“I should have known you’d make this as difficult as possible,” I mutter under my breath. I raise it to say, “Such a broad topic may mean the cards don’t feel as relevant as they could. Are you okay with that?”

“I think I’ll be the one who judges that, right?” God, why is he being so cocky? And why is it making my heart beat a little erratically and my stomach twist in an annoying way? “So, what’s going to happen here?”

“I’m going to shuffle the cards, focusing in on your question, and the pattern of the spread.” Instinctively, I start a casual shuffle, the cards moving easily through my hands. “I feel I give the best readings if I’m in control of the cards the entire time. I want to avoid breaking the intention behind the reason. Does that work for you?”

Ronan nods, but the wary look is back in his eye as he watches the cards move. “And how do you know which ones to pull?”

“I use the fall technique,” I tell him. “Which basically means I keep shuffling until three cards fall out. Now, as for turning over the cards, I’ll give you a choice. I can either turn them as they fall or turn them after all are pulled. I turn them; I don’t flip them.”

“There’s a difference?”

“Cards have different meanings if they’re reversed,” Josie explains from my left. “If she flips them instead of turning them, the meaning of the reading could change.”

Ronan glances my way, and I nod in confirmation. “All right. Turn them as they fall. I like watching the story play out in real time.”

Shifting in my seat, I zero in on Ronan’s question. The room goes almost eerily silent as I start shuffling with more intention, building the connection with the cards, and letting my intention flow through me. The first card falls within seconds of starting.