Nighttime baths were part of their routine. They showered in the morning, then put on the clothes they wore at the deli like they were putting on the public part of themselves. They didn't fuck in the mornings after they showered. That part of their day was for business.
In the evenings, the bath was their transition from the public Tony and Carter to the private couple. The men who could be vulnerable with each other, who didn't have to be tough guys ready to take on the world if it got in their way. Half the time they jerked each other off in the tub, too impatient to wait any longer, their hands slippery first with soap and then with come. Then they went to bed and fucked and slept in each other's arms.
Tonight, instead of soaping Tony's chest with the washcloth, Carter put the wet cloth over Tony's eyes.
"What the fuck?" Tony said.
He reached up to take the cloth away. Carter's hand on his wrist stopped him. "Leave it," Carter said. "I wanna try something."
Tony hesitated. He didn't like having his eyes covered. It reminded him too much of the times he knew his uncle's enforcers, the guys who had years on Carter and dozens more "enforcements" under their belts, shoved one of his uncle's enemies, blindfolded and hogtied, in the trunk of their car and took him for the last ride of his life. A few of them liked to wrap the guy's necktie around his eyes and set him walking down an alley, thinking he was free, then cap him twice in the head. For sport.
"You're gonna like it," Carter said.
Tony felt the rumble of Carter's deep voice in his own chest. This would be different. This was Carter. Carter wouldn't hurt him.
Tony let his hand fall back in the water.
"Just relax," Carter said. His steady breathing, the rise and fall of his chest beneath Tony's back, went a long way toward helping Tony finally release the tension he'd held all day.
"What do you have planned here?" Tony asked.
Carter's voice dropped half an octave. "Sit back and you'll find out." ENDEXCERPT
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