Taking a deep breath, I started to do my vlog. “Hi, this is Katy from Katy’s Krazy Obsession. Sorry for such a long absence. School and…”—my eyes darted to Daemon for a fraction of a second—“stuff have gotten in the way, but anyway, I have a guest. This is—”
“Daemon Black,” he answered for me. “I’m the guy she lays awake at night and fantasizes about.”
My cheeks flushed as I elbowed him back. “And that is so not the truth. He’s my neighbor—”
“And the guy she’s completely obsessed with.”
I forced a weak smile. “He’s very egotistical and likes to hear his voice, but he’s promised to stay quiet. Right?”
He nodded and smiled angelically for the camera, but his eyes stirred with amusement. Yep, this was a bad idea. “I think reading is sexy.” Daemon smiled at himself.
My brows inched up my forehead. “Do you now?”
“Oh, yes, and you know what else I think is sexy?” He leaned forward so his entire face filled the picture and nodded his head toward me. “Bloggers like this. Hot.”
Rolling my eyes, I smacked his arm. “Get back,” I whispered.
Daemon sat back and tried to stay quiet for the next five minutes. He handed me each book, unable to refrain from making a comment and taking my whole recording hostage. Like, “This guy looks stupid,” or “What’s the obsession with fallen angels?” And my favorite was when he held the book in front of my face and said, “This reaper dude sounds like my kind of guy. He gets to kill people for a living.”
At the end of the recording, I couldn’t even hide the stupid grin plastered on my face. “And that’s it for today. Thanks for watching!”
Daemon practically knocked me over to get in one last comment. “Don’t forget. There are cooler things out there than fallen angels and dead guys. Just saying.” He winked.
I pictured an entire legion of females swooning. Pushing him aside, I winced and clicked the off button on the webcam page. “You like seeing yourself being recorded.”
He shrugged. “That was fun. When do you do another?”
“Next week if I get more books.”
“More books.” His eyes went wide. “You have, like, ten books you just said you haven’t read.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t get more books.” I smiled at his incredulous expression. “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.” He 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,” he shot back. “I’ve checked out your blog. You’ve done five posts in the last month.”
My jaw hit the floor. “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.” I bent forward, closing my laptop. “You know what I’ve been doing. It pretty much soaks up my time—”
“What the hell?” he exploded, grabbing the back of my thermal and tugging it up.
“Hey.” I twisted around, ignoring the fresh spike of pain. “What are you doing? Hands off, mofo.”
He looked up, eyes glowing with a hint of desperation and vengeance. “Tell me why your back looks like you fell out of a two-story window.”
Oh, crap. Standing, I headed toward the kitchen to get some space. Daemon was right behind me as I grabbed a Coke out of the fridge. “I…I fell in training with Blake. It’s not a big deal, though.” Sounded believable, and the truth would send him into a murderous rage that right now no one wanted. And Daemon didn’t need something else to stress over. “I told you I slept wrong, because I figured you’d make fun of me.”
“Yeah, I would’ve made fun of you…a little bit, but Jesus, Kat, you sure you didn’t break something?”
Not really. “I’m fine.”
Concern etched into the lines of his face as he followed me around the table, eyes unflinching. “You’ve been hurting yourself a lot lately.”
“Not really.”
“You’re not clumsy, Kitten. So how does this keep happening?” He advanced forward, moving like a predator about to pounce. Suddenly I wasn’t sure what was worse: him moving at the speed of light or with slow, calculated steps that sent a shiver down my spine.
“I tripped in the woods the night I first found out about you,” I reminded him.
“Nice try.” He shook his head. “You were running full-out in the middle of pitch-black woods. Even I’d…” He winked. “Well, maybe not me, but normal people would trip then. I’m just too awesome.”
“Well…” God he was full of himself.
“It looks like it hurts.”
“It does a little.”
“Then let me fix it.” He reached out, fingers blurring.
“Wait.” I backed up. “Should you be doing that?”
“Healing you can’t hurt. Not at this point.” He tried to touch me again, but I knocked his hand away. “I’m just trying to help!”
I’d cornered myself. “I don’t need you to help me.”
The muscle in his jaw started working as he turned his head. It appeared as if he’d given up, but then his arm went around my hips and a second later he was sitting on the couch in the living room, and I was in his lap.