Page 69 of Nightcrawler

“Knock what off?” His words were ragged with emotion, his brown eyes searching mine.

“You…Miguel.” I poked his chest. “Stop punishing yourself for something I wanted.” I grinned at him, moving past, and dropping the towel as I rummaged for clean sleeping shorts. I tossed a pair of mine at him, hitting him in the chest and noticed him chuckling as I pulled my own shorts on.

“You do have a way with words, Raven.”

“Put those on. I have a project for you, and I think you’ll like it.”

He frowned, holding the shorts up as he waggled his eyebrows. “I don’t think I’lllikethe project I have in mind…not with these on.”

I laughed, ignoring him as I walked to the bookshelf beside my dresser. I looked at the paperbacks, searching for the one I’d finished the week before meeting Miguel, and pulled it off the shelf. I spun back to him, pointing to the bed.

“Your project involves the bed and a book,” he said, understanding blooming as his eyes brightened.

I nodded.

“O-kaaay,” he said, climbing under the covers.

I climbed in after him. “For your information, I finished this before I met you, but I haven’t gotten around to writing the review.” I held it out, and he read the title before looking up at me with a grin.

“A Side with Prejudice?” he asked, chuckling at the title.

“Yes!” I said, practically bouncing on the bed.

He laughed. “Are you telling me that you want me to sit here while you write a review of this book?”

“Not sit here exactly. I want you to write it with me.”

He took the book from me. “I haven’t even read it and if I’m guessing by this author’s name, it’s kind of boring.”

I stared at him, slightly dumbfounded. “You can tell what a book is about from the author’s name!” I went on. “William Shakespeare didn’t write plays about shakes or spears, and to stay on topic, they certainly weren’tboring.” I looked at his expression and laughed. “Okay, some werereallyboring…but not all of them.”

He chuckled. “But undoubtedly, some were.”

I snorted. “Well, like I said, some were, but it’s probably a good thing Shakespeare never realized he could be atotalbore then. He certainly wouldn’t have writtenTroilus and Cressida… Because Cressida, even though stolen from her birthplace in Troy and given to the Greeks, only provided a reason for Troilus, a Trojan man of noble birth, and totally crazy in love with her, to play the hero and go rescue her.” I was on a roll. “Of course, Troilus, spotting her with a Greek man, and being the warrior he was, missed the point of saving Cressida altogether and made the whole reason for being there about warring.”

“O…kay,” Miguel said, wearing an expression of total puzzlement. He yawned. “Sorry, I’m so bored.”

He was totally missing the point.

I flapped my hand. “Never mind. You obviously never saw the play.”

“Well, I guess it was lost to history about four hundred years ago,” Miguel murmured, smirking.

“That’s true. Anyway, let me tell you aboutA Side with Prejudice, so I can write the review.” I typed a few lines. “This is how to start and now we fill in the blanks.”

He read what I’d typed.

Book title: A Side with Prejudice

Author: Arthur Boring

“Oh!” I stopped and looked over, embarrassed. “Now I get it. Arthur Boring.” I digested this for a moment and kept typing.

Publisher: Self-published

Genre: MM Historical Romance

Review/rating by Nightcrawler—