Beyond Eden by Kele Moon

and enjoyed the novelty of it. Which was one of the more annoying, handsome, college-boy traits Danny instinctively wanted to offer a cure for. “What’re you, twenty-one?”
    “Twenty-two,” the florist said hesitantly, wilting under Danny’s intense stare. “You’re out of your league. I could break you as easily as blink,” he told him
    warningly, wanting the kid to understand Danny was actually doing him a huge favor
    by rejecting him. Taking the cocky strut out of this pretty boy’s walk was very tempting. If he hadn’t just told Paul he could be faithful to Eve, he would have seized the opportunity. “You can’t handle my games, pretty boy. You need to stop thinking with your dick and go do your job.”
    He swallowed hard, looking up at Danny with wide, stunned blue eyes, his voice losing its confidence as he whispered, “I’d bottom.”
    “I bet you would,” Danny said smugly, his eyes running over the younger man once more as he silently mourned the loss of such a tempting amusement. “Flowers, that’s all I want from you and be quick about it. Waiting makes me angry.”
    “Right, I’m s-sorry, sir,” he said in dejection. His shoulders slumped and he turned to walk back around the counter with a violent blush of embarrassment staining his cheeks. “I was probably out of line. I’ll give you a discount.”
    “Sure, whatever,” Danny said, putting his hands in his pockets as he walked to the front of the store and stared out the window impatiently, deciding that looking at the distraction of Ybor City in the day time was a better use of his time than toying with cute, innocent college boys who blushed nicely when embarrassed. “I’m going outside for a smoke, pretty boy. I’m not leaving.”
    “Okay, sir.”
    Danny laughed as he pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket and walked out the door. He stood in the open air, soaking in the hum of Ybor City, which was rich with Tampa culture. Danny loved the old Spanish feel and the flair that came from being the cigar-making hub of the United States. His mother used to take him there all the time when he was young to shop at the Cuban bakeries and wander around and reconnect with her culture when his father’s oppressive, good ol’ boy behavior became a little too much to handle. Thinking of his mother had him feeling melancholy and he found himself calling Paul without thought as he stood there sweating in stagnant summer air.
    “You need a real job, Danny Boy,” Paul answered on the second ring. “You call me ten times a day.”
    “I’m bored,” Danny said. “What kind of flowers would you buy Evie?”
    “I’m not helping you fuck her. I’m still pissed off about this. I don’t care how hard you whipped me, what you did will never be okay.”
    “I already bought the flowers. I’m just curious if I made the right choice.” Paul sighed in defeat. “Wildflowers, something different and colorful.”
    “I did make the right choice,” Danny said proudly. “I told you I could be vanilla.” “I find that very hard to believe. No way did you pick out wildflowers.”
    “The florist helped me,” Danny admitted and then turned around to stare back into the shop with a dark smile on his face. “He was so cute. He asked me out. I feel sixteen.”
    “How cute was he?”
    “Precious,” Danny said slowly in a lascivious voice. “A pretty little college boy who wanted me to bottom for him. You want me to do it, Paul Guy? I will just to prove I can.”
    “Is he socially challenged? You scream top in every sense of the word. He’d have to be the worst gay man in the world not to know it,” Paul barked out in amazement. “And no, I don’t want you to do it. The idea of you bottoming for some twink just made me nauseated.”
    Danny laughed in amusement as he took a long drag off his cigarette. “Where are you? I know you’re not at work if you’re talking about twinks and bottoming.”
    “In the car. I’ve got a few errands to