“What?” She frowned as I flipped the book over, showing her the cover. “Wait. You don’t mean—”
Glancing back at the image, I focused and then let my human form slip. It was harder to mirror the image since all I had was a photo, but I’d spent hours doing it when I was a kid, teaching Dawson. A few seconds later, a lock of blond hair fell across my eyes. I smiled slightly. “Hello there…”
“Oh my God.” Kat lifted her hand and poked my golden cheek. She laughed. “You can’t do that. People would freak.”
“But it would definitely get a lot of attention.” I winked. “It would be fun.”
“But this cover model”—she took the book from me and waved it around—“is a real person somewhere. He’d probably be curious how he ended up in my In My Mailbox video.”
I pouted. “You do have a point.” Letting go of the mirror image, I returned to my normal form. “But don’t let that stop you. Go ahead and film. I’ll be like your assistant.”
She stared at me. “I don’t know about this.”
“I’ll be completely quiet. I’ll just hold books for you.”
“I don’t think you have the ability to be completely quiet. Ever.”
“I promise.” My grin spread.
Several moments passed, and then she nodded. Facing the screen of the laptop, she adjusted the placement so I was included. She hit record and took a deep breath. “Hi, this is Katy from Katy’s Krazy Book Obsession. Sorry for such a long absence. School and”—she glanced at me—“stuff have gotten in the way, but anyway, I have a guest. This is—”
“Daemon Black,” I said. “I’m the guy she lies awake at night and fantasizes about.”
Her cheeks flushed as she elbowed me. “And that is so not the truth. He’s my neighbor—”
“And the guy she’s completely obsessed with.”
“He’s very egotistical and likes to hear his voice, but he’s promised to stay quiet. Right?”
I nodded as I smiled at the camera. “I think reading is sexy.”
Kat’s brows inched up her forehead. “Do you now?”
“Oh, yes, and you know what else I think is sexy?” I leaned forward so my entire face filled the picture. I lifted my chin in her direction. “Bloggers like this. Hot.”
She smacked my arm and whispered, “Get back.”
I sat back and I was totally quiet for a very, very long time. Like a good assistant, I handed her the books, but sometimes I had to say something. Like the guy on one of the other covers looked constipated. And seriously, did she have enough angel books? But one book did look interesting. I held it up, ignoring her muffled, disgruntled sigh, and said, “This reaper dude sounds like my kind of guy. He gets to kill people for a living.”
Kat snatched it out of my hand, grinning. She spoke about the book for a few moments and then, “And that’s it for today. Thanks for watching!”
I leaned in. “Don’t forget. There are cooler things out there than fallen angels and dead guys. Just saying.” I winked.
Smiling like I hadn’t seen her do in a while, she pushed me aside and clicked off the record button. “You like seeing yourself being recorded.”
More like I liked seeing her smiling. I shrugged. “That was fun. When do you do another?”
“Next week if I get more books.”
“More books.” My eyes widened. “You have, like, ten books you just said you haven’t read.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t get more books.” Her lips curved up again as I gaped at her. “I haven’t been able to read a lot lately, but I will, and then I won’t be out of anything new to read.”
“You haven’t had time because of him and that’s ridiculous.” I looked away, jaw working. “Reading is something you love. So is blogging, and you’ve completely dumped those things.”
“I have not!”
“You’re such a little liar,” I shot back as I leaned against the couch once more. “I’ve checked out your blog. You’ve done five posts in the last month.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’ve been stalking my blog, too?”
“Like I said before, I’m not stalking. I’m just keeping an eye on you.”
“And like I said before, your reasoning is faulty. You know what I’ve been doing. It pretty much soaks up my time—”
“What the hell?” I exploded. Kat had bent forward to close the laptop, causing the back of her thermal to ride up, exposing several inches of skin—purple and blue skin. Bruised and angry-looking. Horrified, I grabbed hold of the thermal and tugged it up, revealing a huge bruise.
“Hey.” She twisted around, knocking my hands away. “What are you doing? Hands off, mofo.”