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"Oh, I found a review of your last book," Esca said. "You'll love this."
Marcus looked up from Birley's Garrison Life at Vindolanda to see Esca bent over his iPad. "Oh?"
"Centurion's Man, author Mark Hardon's--" Esca broke off, snickering. "I still can't believe you picked that for your penname. Hardon. What are you, twelve? Author Mark Hardon's first foray into gay porn is an enjoyable but not entirely successful read. The ancient Roman setting is well-drawn and richly detailed--yet Hardon wastes the immense potential of all the masters and slaves, instead focusing on the forbidden relationship between centurion Quintus Marius Falco and his executive officer, the Briton Cunorix. Much is made of Falco's struggle with the expectations of him as a Roman citizen and his desire to submit to Cunorix, and after a while this becomes tedious and the reader simply wishes they would fuck. While there are some great one-handed scenes and Hardon clearly understands the dynamics of BDSM--"
Marcus snorted.
"--this reviewer felt the novel would have been vastly improved by cutting back on some of the social detail in favor of more porn, perhaps a hot all-male orgy--"
"The Romans didn't have orgies!"
Esca reached over and clapped a hand over Marcus's mouth, laughing. "Be quiet. I'm still reading. Indeed, while Centurion's Man is not bad as a novel, if sometimes bogged down by historical accuracy, it never manages to succeed as pornography. Perhaps Hardon might better turn his pen to mainstream historical fiction. Well, I guess you'd better not quit your day job."
"You mean writing best-selling historical fiction?" Marcus sputtered.
"Oh, hush," Esca said, setting aside the iPad. "I think historical accuracy is hot, Mark." He swiped the Vindolanda book and Marcus's notes from his lap and dropped them on the bedside table. "Don't waste your time thinking about reviewers when you could be thinking about other things, like your tragically sex-deprived and incredibly hot partner."
"'Deprived,' as in 'it's been more than twelve hours since we fucked?'"
"Deprived," Esca said, and kissed him.