EXCERPT<\/span>:
\nRating: teen+ to be safe<\/p>\nBeing on location was one of those things Simon used to love but that now made his stomach churn nervously. He didn’t really like being out of his safety zone, but it was something he felt had to be done.<\/p>\n
Looking over and being able to see Byron Hughes standing with the rest of the crew made him feel better. His bodyguard had a gun and was willing to use it. He was perfectly safe.<\/p>\n
“All right, Simon, in this scene you and Colby are entering the Dragon’s Tomb,” the director, Paul Bleek, said. “Just like in practice, you bring the gun up and it’s just ‘bang-bang-bang.’ Colby, you get hit and fall down, knocking over the Orb. We all good?”<\/p>\n
Colby nodded and Simon said, “We good.”<\/p>\n
They were standing in front of the archway leading to the “Dragon’s Tomb,” a temple built by the set designers in the middle of the desert. It was already hot and Simon could feel the sweat trickling down his forehead and sticking his clothes to his skin.<\/p>\n
Waiting for the cue, he flashed a smile at Colby. “So what’s it like being the male Lara Croft?”<\/p>\n
Colby Jackson gave his world famous grin. He really was amazingly good looking, a tall African-American with a leanly muscled body and a perfectly trimmed beard. “I feel very pretty.”<\/p>\n
They’d never worked together though they’d known each other for years. It had only been because Colby asked so nicely that Simon had even accepted the role of “Percy Walden,” assistant and sidekick to itinerant explorer “Nicholas Blaine.”<\/p>\n
“Places!”<\/p>\n
“Let’s Indiana Jones this bitch up,” Simon said, earning himself a laugh.<\/p>\n
Dressed in black pants, a long-sleeved black shirt, and a flak vest jangling with all kinds of faux-weaponry, Simon already felt like he needed a break and they hadn’t really even started yet.<\/p>\n
“All right\u2026 Action!” Bleek called.<\/p>\n
Simon drew in a deep breath and hurtled forward and kicked the stone door down with a grunt. He had a gun in his hand and he didn’t hesitate to run forward into the tomb. His head moved back and forth alertly and it seemed natural to bring his gun up and start shooting.<\/p>\n
An Asian-looking tomb all shining with gold and jade. Dangerous looking men in lots of brown and gray clothing toting machine guns as they worked at stripping the place bare of treasure. They dropped what they were doing when he started shooting them and brought their own weapons up.<\/p>\n
There were screams and shouts and the plink-plink of misses near his head and feet as he jumped, rolled, and dodged until every one of them was dead.<\/p>\n
He stood from his crouch and turned to Colby. “It’s clear, sir.”<\/p>\n
Colby sauntered in, his lips forming a disappointed moue. “Really, Percy, did you have to come charging through like a bull in a china shop? Perhaps some of these gentlemen would have liked the chance to surrender before you shot them in the face?”<\/p>\n
Simon holstered his gun with a shrug. “We’ll never know now, will we?”<\/p>\n
Colby smiled and started to say something, then hesitated. His expression congealed, his brows coming together, and he raised his right hand to his left shoulder.<\/p>\n
“Sir?” Simon took a step toward him.<\/p>\n
Colby pulled his hand away and there was blood on his fingers. He half-turned and there was a giant, bleeding wound in his back. “I think I’ve been shot,” he said calmly, then his legs wobbled and he stumbled sideways before collapsing. His flailing arm knocked against the pedestal and the glass Orb trembled and fell with a crash against the floor.<\/p>\n
There was a puff of glittery dust that obscured everything.<\/p>\n
\/EXCERPT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I appreciate how much better my Kindle has made my life. I will never give up having at least a laptop, but I’m not chained to it anymore. I have something that more easily fits my hand. I can work outside or thanks to Swype write while I’m walking somewhere. I use ColorNote to write…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> I appreciate how much better my Kindle has made my life<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"Layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[100],"tags":[218,229,300,319,493,495,656],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-2375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-product-reviews","tag-colby-jackson","tag-contemporary","tag-excerpt","tag-fierce","tag-mm","tag-mm-romance","tag-simon-peters"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-Cj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1888,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/using-a-tablet-to-write-a-novel\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":0},"title":"Using A Tablet to Write (a Novel)","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I guess I'm a member of the tablet family. I just got my Kindle Fire HD 8.9 and I've completely fallen in love with the ease of use. The minute I took it out of the box I was incredibly happy. Then like four hours into my having it, Amazon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Product Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Product Reviews","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/reviews\/product-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3315,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/kindle-fire-hd-7-is-119-139-right-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":1},"title":"Kindle Fire HD 7 is $119-139 right now","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought the Kid a 16GB Kindle Fire HD 7 for $139 (the 8GB is $119). It's a limited time offer -- the Fire was $159 when I added it to my cart two week ago -- and with the sudden price drop, I didn't want to wait. So the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3200,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/digital-media-of-choice-to-the-tune-of-weapon-of-choice\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":2},"title":"Digital Media of Choice (to the tune of “Weapon of Choice”)","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"August 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I got a Vudu account because we have a Smart TV and the Vudu app came pre-installed. Still, it's easy to log in and it's easy to use on my computer. Netflix on the TV isn't as hard to use as Hulu, but it's a little bit janked for us.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Life"","block_context":{"text":"Real Life","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/real-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2695,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/heroes-villains-parashift-birthday-wish\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":3},"title":"Heroes & Villains, ParaShift, birthday wish","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"September 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I have largely been without Internet for most of this month. I'm back now, but it will be sporadic at best and I apologize. I hope that I will be able to make posts through my kindle and email, but it's been giving me a hard time lately and some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What's up buttercup?"","block_context":{"text":"What's up buttercup?","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/whats-up-buttercup\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Joyfully Jay","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joyfullyjay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/sidebar_badge1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3730,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/ereading-kindles-amazon\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":4},"title":"Ereading; Kindles; Amazon","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"October 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There's talk that the purchase of dedicated ereaders is down, and as the owner of several kindles, I can see why. They're such excellent devices that it's like they never go bad. I've got a second gen kindle and it's still my go-to ereader. Why? Well, it's got side buttons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/display.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2707,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/whats-up-buttercup-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2375,"position":5},"title":"What’s Up, Buttercup","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"October 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm trying to watch this show, but my dad won't stop talking. Asking questions is all right, but he makes these dumb comments. I think he needs his own Twitter. That or I should set him up with a blog. He has thoughts and opinions he would really like to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mailed"","block_context":{"text":"Mailed","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/kindled\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6343,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions\/6343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}