"No need to apologize," Dan smiled a little - he definitely wasn't looking for anything x-rated. But naturally it would be there, he wasn't an idiot. Not everyone chose the self-imposed shackles of celibacy, after all. Anyway.
Hollywood sort of gave the impression that physical contact was necessary for reading someone's mind, or some sort of gesture on the telepath's end - but that was all bogus. Dan could do it just fine with his fingers tapping on his own knees, also nervous, but he closed his eyes and let himself relax. He wasn't about to storm the castle with a battering ram though - he eased into Richie's mind, words and feeling, fluctuating like water against the hull of a boat.
Relax, he passed the word on. A random whisper, a ghostly presence. We'll go deeper - just breathe when I do. Maybe physical contact was necessary after all - he took Richie's hand, placed it on his chest over his sweater (one of the new ones, he was so stylish) so they could sync up. It was because he could feel how nervous Richie was; thus, he attempted to ease that best he could.