Peeta is surprised at how easily Katniss agrees to make dinner together. He's also ecstatic. Ever since he first laid eyes on this girl he's been wanting to get to know her better. She beautiful and mysterious, obviously intelligent, and he can also sense an underlying strength and determination about her.
"I'll just run home and grab the bread I made earlier," he tells her, after they gather the rest of the grocery items they need to make the lasagna together. They've decided to cook at Katniss' house, so she agrees to meet him there in about thirty minutes. As they set off walking in opposite directions from the grocery store, each with several bags in tow, Peeta can't help but turn back to glance in her direction one last time. He finds her looking back at him as well, and he grins in response. His heart soars when she returns an answering smile.
…..
It takes him a little longer than he intended to make it to Katniss' house. After he walked home to grab the loaf of Italian bread he had made earlier, Peeta stopped off for a bottle of red wine to go with the meal. He thought about changing his clothes, too, but decided to stay casual since this was a last minute thing. So he's a little thrown when she answers the door wearing a dress.
"What happened to your orange shirt?" he asks before he can think.
Her cheeks immediately bloom a rosy shade and he corrects himself quickly, "No, but I mean, I love this dress. You look…stunning." He notices she has also taken out her braid and her chocolate colored hair now falls in waves over her shoulders. "I feel under-dressed," he adds.
She's still staring at him like a deer in headlights so he finally gestures with the bread and wine he carries and adds, "May I come in?"
"Oh sorry!" she says, opening the door wider and welcoming him inside. She leads him to the small, but neat kitchen where she has laid out most of the ingredients on the countertop. "I waited for you to start," she says shyly, and Peeta thinks he hears a touch of nervousness in her voice.
"That's fine," he says kindly. "I think I have a few of the ingredients we need anyway." He places the remaining grocery bags up on the counter and begins to unpack. "Do you want to brown the meat or slice the vegetables for the sauce?" he asks and he sees her breath a sigh of relief that he's taken over for now.
They move together in the kitchen in perfect synchrony. Katniss hooks up her iPod to her stereo system and they work to the sounds of an Italian music station she finds on Pandora. He teases her, but she insists that it will put them in the mood for their meal. Once he's chopped all the vegetables and has them simmering in a large pot on the stovetop, Peeta uncorks the wine and pours them each a glass. They move and stir and occasionally bump against one another as they reach for a needed ingredient or another sip of wine.
And they talk, a lot. Peeta tells her about growing up on Lake Erie, his two older brothers and how his love of art started with sketching designs for the cakes in his father's bakery. Katniss tells him about her favorite person in the world—her sister—and about her hobby, archery, and how she met her publisher and landed her dream job.
Peeta isn't sure if it's the wine, or the way she moves or the fact that she's finally opened up to him, but he feels warm with feeling by the time they put the lasagna in the oven. Together they clean up the kitchen while they wait for the hearty dish to bake and he feels electricity spark between them each time she hands him a dish to dry. When they finish, he pours them each another glass of wine and they head out to the porch to wait until the timer goes off. He can't help but brush his palm against the small of her back as she passes him on the way through the door.
The lasagna is amazing—crusty on top and oozing with just the right combination of cheese, spinach, ground beef and the savory tomato sauce made from Peeta's grandmother's recipe, which he knows by heart. He is both pleased and a little impressed when Katniss polished off her second piece. Her last bite leaves a bit of sauce on her chin and he doesn't hesitate to lean in and use his thumb to carefully wipe it away, barely brushing her bottom lip as he does so. He hears her breath hitch and he says quietly, "You had a little….there."
"Thank you," she says, and the way she looks at him leaves him just a little bit breathless.
Together they clear away the dishes and leave them soaking in the kitchen. Katniss suggests they sit again on the porch swing, and he's glad that she doesn't seem to want him to go. They sit in silence in the cooling evening air, the notes of "Non Dimenticar" floating out through the open window. A few quiet moments pass and then Katniss clears her throat and lifts her mostly empty glass of wine in assessment.
"More?" Peeta asks, but she shakes her head no.
"I'm good," she says. "I was just thinking, though. I guess we got so caught up in getting the ingredients for our lasagna that we forgot dessert," Katniss says, a small frown on her face. "And I don't think I have anything here." She sets her glass down and turns to Peeta.
"I can think of something we can have for dessert," he responds with a smirk, before he can sensor himself. Mentally he smacks himself; Way to scare her off, Mellark. But to his surprise she does not look upset by his remark. Quite the opposite actually: she's looking at him from under her lashes, a shy smile quirking at the edges of her lips.
Contrite, Peeta looks down at his hands and tries to apologize, even if she doesn't seem upset. "I, uh, was trying to be funny. Sorry about that. I…" Peeta trails off because suddenly Katniss is there, right in front of him. He lifts his eyes up to her luminous gray ones just as she presses her lips to his.
The kiss is soft, and sweet and he returns it eagerly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in closer. When they finally break away, she is sitting in his lap, her legs gripping his thighs on either side, and his hands are tangled in her long wavy black hair. She sighs softly and tugs on the blond locks that curl at the base of his neck, and he chuckles to himself. "Maybe there will be dessert after all," he murmurs, just before tasting her lips again.
…
(10 hours later)
Katniss wakes to the sounds of Pandora's French Café radio pouring from her stereo and the smell of cinnamon rolls baking. She rolls over onto her back, a smile lighting her face before she even opens her eyes. How is it possible that she found the most talented man in all of Panem? She hears dishes clinking around in the kitchen and she stretches before standing to retrieve Peeta's discarded shirt from the floor and shrugging it on over her bare body. Perhaps there will be more dessert after breakfast; but first she wants one of those cinnamon rolls.