Chapter 10

OK folks, I know it has been a very long time since I updated. I truly am sorry. But I promise everyone that I have not, and will not, abandon The Blind Date. I actually have the whole thing mapped out to the end, so it WILL have a conclusion at some point – and actually, we're still only about half way there. :)

As for why it took me so long, I had some family and personal problems that happened to me in the last few months, and if you visit my tumblr page (malibustacywriting) I'll share with everyone what's been going on. I love my readers and love all your reviews and kudos, so thank you for reading and sticking around even during my hiatus. I may not have time to respond to every review, but know that I read them all and love your comments!

And now…hold onto your panties, I think this is the chapter you all have been waiting for.

I was walking down a darkened street, and I couldn't see a thing around me. I could hear my heels clicking on the cobblestones, and I kept turning my head from side to side, trying to see through the thick fog. Then I realized that it wasn't fog but smoke, angry black smoke, and I started to cough heavily. It burned my mouth and throat, and I had to bend over to keep from fainting. But I kept going.

In the distance, I saw the steel plant, where my father used to work. It was engulfed in flames, much like it was that day years ago. I started running towards the plant, but my feet couldn't move, as if I was stuck in quicksand. I kept lifting up my heavy legs but they wouldn't move. People around me were running away from the fire and I kept chugging forward, trying desperately to make my legs move. Finally I tripped and fell over onto my hands and knees.

"Katniss," I heard someone call my name. I looked up and it was my father. He was standing in front of the plant and beckoning me to come to him. I tried to get up but couldn't. I was stuck, the mud of the streets clinging to my body like thick oil. I called his name over and over, begged him to run away from the fire, but he didn't. He just stood there, with his arms open, as if waiting for me to run into his arms for a giant bear hug, allowing the flames to rise around him. "Katniss," he said again. But I couldn't move, and then he too burst into flames, his arms still open, a smile on his face, and I screamed. I screamed and screamed and he literally disintegrated before my eyes into a pile of ash.

The next thing I knew, I was being lifted in the air and shaken gently. "Katniss? Katniss, wake up!" I could hear a voice calling me out of my dream, but I didn't want to leave. He was there, he was right there and I couldn't save him. It was just like that day all over again. "Daddy!" I screamed again and again and when I opened my eyes I realized it wasn't my father saying my name anymore, but a very worried Peeta, his arms clutching my shoulders and forcing my half-awake body to sit up. I looked up into his face, where lines of concern were crisscrossing his forehead and I flung my head on his shoulder.

"No, no, no, no," I shook my head violently, trying to get the image out of my head. Peeta pulled me close, almost onto his lap, and rubbed my back in small circles, shushing me and telling me that it was ok. He started an almost gentle rock, like I was a small child, and I started to calm my breath, inhaling his scent deeply. I turned my head to the side and breathed onto his neck, noticing for the first time that I must have been crying, for his undershirt was wet. I lifted my head and started to wipe at the wet spot.

"I got your shirt all wet," I whispered.

"Don't worry about it," he said softly. "Hey, do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head and went back to leaning against his shoulder. He sighed and rubbed my back again. "You scared me. I woke up to you screaming and thrashing around the bed," he said. "And here I was worried that I would be the one waking you up with my nightmares."

I had to laugh, leaning back to wipe at my cheeks. Peeta lifted my chin with his palm and placed a gentle kiss to my lips. He felt so soft and warm, and his slightly chapped lips moved once more before pulling away, stroking my loose hair around my ears.

"Here," he said, leaning back against the pillows and pulling me down with him. "Lie back and try to get some sleep."

He started to move his arm out from under my neck, but I grabbed his shirt with my fist and prevented him from getting up. I wanted nothing more than to stay in his secure arms for the rest of the night, especially after the horrors my mind had conjured up.

"Stay with me?" I asked him, looking up at him through the darkened room.

"Always." And he leaned back, pulled the covers up around us, and I started to drift off into a deep sleep once more, resting my head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his. I heard him sigh deeply, and then I was out.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The light barely shone through the pulled drapes when I next opened my eyes. I had to take a minute to figure out my surroundings, and I realized that somewhere in the middle of the night, my innocent position in Peeta's arms had turned downright obscene. Each of us were on our sides, Peeta behind me, his arms around me, my thighs intertwined with his, and my bottom – I jolted, realizing what the hard object jutting up against me was. Peeta was there, not him, but it. And it wasn't just touching my behind, it was right there, in between my legs.

I panicked for a moment, trying not to move or wake up Peeta. I held my breath and waited for him to make a move, but he didn't. I was stuck under his warm arms and, well, him.

It felt good. I couldn't help the blush that appeared across my face as I realized that I liked having him in between my thighs. It felt comfortable yet daring at the same time, and I started to imagine what it would be like if he went further, inside of me, like how the girls at work said it happened. I had never paid much attention, but now… The thought sent warm chills through my body and I felt myself get aroused, just like when I touched myself that night. I wondered what it would feel like if instead of my fingers Peeta used himself to touch me.

Then, it happened. It was completely involuntary and embarrassing, but it happened. In the middle of all of these thoughts, my hips pushed back against his. Peeta's breath sucked in for a moment, and I stilled myself, horrified that my body had worked against me. Then, he pushed back, moaning softly under his breath.

I held my breath, and then, gently, pushed back towards him. He responded by pushing towards me again, this time moving his hardness deftly in and out of my thighs. I smiled to myself and thought, why not, because damn that felt good.

Slowly, we started moving in sync with one another, back and forth, in and out, his arms still wrapped around mine. What started as gently nudging was growing, as well the wetness between my thighs. I didn't even care that I could feel my panties and his pajama bottoms becoming soaked, whatever was happening between Peeta and me was too good to stop now.

But just as I was about to pull his neck down towards me, he froze. Peeta cleared his throat and pulled away from me. "Ahem, sorry, s-sorry about that." I turned over onto my back and pulled the covers up over my chest as Peeta sat up against his side of the bed. I realized then that I was the only one awake, and Peeta must have been just responding to my body in a dream-like state. I blushed about 20 shades of red all at once.

"Um, it's ok," I squeaked out an answer. God, I wished the floor would just open up and swallow me. I could see Peeta trying to cover up his lap and adjust himself without me noticing. But how on earth was I not supposed to notice with the size of that thing?

"How are you feeling? Did you get any sleep?" he asked, not meeting my eyes.

"Yeah, a little." The truth was that I had never slept better than in his arms. No more nightmares had plagued me that night, and I felt more rested than I had in years.

"Good. Well, I can start breakfast, if you're hungry." I nodded, and Peeta pulled himself closer to me, giving me a little kiss on my forehead, my nose, and lightly on my lips, before pulling away slowly.

But I didn't want him to pull away. Suddenly, looking into his blue eyes, so full of concern and worry and something else – love? – suddenly the events of the last few weeks started to make sense. I had let Peeta in against my will, and I had allowed myself to be pulled alongside him, allowed him to charm me into dates and kisses. Everything up to this point had felt like a whirlwind, like I wasn't myself but a version of myself that only Peeta saw. I never gave myself a chance to really think about Peeta, about what he had become to me.

But now, now after last night, after the revelations of yesterday morning, after I had learned to trust him more and more with each meeting, with his breath on my forehead, it became clear.

I leaned forward to touch his lips to mine, just barely, our breaths hanging in a warm cloud around us. I felt Peeta jump slightly, since this was the first kiss that I gave him, the first one I had initiated. No other parts of our bodies were touching except our lips moved against one another, gaining more and more momentum as they explored one another.

I wanted more. I sat up more on my knees and flung my arms around his neck, and Peeta met me at the same time, pulling up on his knees and clinging me to him, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. Our kisses became more frantic, sloppy, and when his tongue entered my mouth slightly, I pushed mine out as well, tasting him over and over again. Our tongues and teeth crashed, and it didn't matter. I pushed my chest into his, still not close enough. I felt Peeta's hands move up from my waist along my sides, brushing the sides of my breasts, and the sensation made me gasp. Peeta moaned and started pushing me backwards until I hit the mattress.

And then his hands were everywhere, along my stomach, my sides, my chest, until they rested on the thin fabric on top of my breasts. I gasped even louder into Peeta's mouth and I felt him smile, and then resume, squeezing and caressing, flicking my hard nipple with his thumb. My breath became heavier and I told him how much I liked what he was doing by kissing him harder and pulling on the blond hairs at the nape of his neck. Peeta moaned again and lifted up the edge of my pajama top, moving his fingertips across my bare stomach, up higher and higher, tickling my skin, until he reached my bare breast, and again repeated his exploration. And then, my shirt – really, his shirt – was thrown off over my head and Peeta's mouth replaced his hands, kissing the sides and the tops of my breasts, and then, tentatively, he engulfed my nipple into his mouth.

It was like nothing I had ever felt before, and I breathlessly whispered his name. His hand squeezed and rubbed my other breast while his mouth still licked and sucked, and then he switched, repeating the same glorious movement. I heard his whisper something about how perfect they were, and it made me blush. I had always been so ashamed of my chest, and thought it was flat and dull, not like most girls my age, who had curves all over. But Peeta didn't seem to mind; in fact, he treated my breasts as if they were the most delicious, beautiful things he had ever seen. It felt like heaven.

Peeta leaned up from my breasts and attacked my neck with the same vigor, nibbling on the soft spot right behind my earlobe, and I sighed again. My moment of clarity about Peeta was long gone, as was I, and I allowed myself to become lost in his kiss, his tongue, his breath, his chest heavy against mine. I ran my fingertips across the expanse of his back, and tentatively, with shaking fingers, gently touched the edges of where his undershirt had hitched up.

Suddenly, Peeta stopped. I automatically withdrew my hands from his waist. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" I stammered, but Peeta put his fingers on my lips stopping me.

"No, I should be the one apologizing. Katniss, I-" he stopped, sitting up against the bedframe. He ran his fingers through his hair. God, he looked so adorable and I couldn't stop staring at his mouth. "This isn't right, I'm not that kind of guy." He sighed. "I don't want to take advantage of you."

I thought about this for a moment, then in one swift move I flung my legs around his and straddled his lap. "You're not taking advantage of me. I want you. I want you to touch me."

"Katniss," he breathed, not looking me in the eye, yet obviously trying not to stare at my bare chest. "You-you don't know what you're asking for."

I had to laugh. And while there was a small part of me that knew Peeta was just trying to be a gentleman, the aching between my legs had fully taken over my brain. "Peeta, I'm an adult. I may not be very experienced, but I know what making love is. Now touch me."

Peeta stared into my eyes for a brief second and then he obeyed me, covering my mouth with his, covering my body with his hands that couldn't stop roaming. I grinded my hips into his and felt his hardness beneath me. Peeta let out a low moan, and this prompted me to continue rocking back and forth across him, rubbing into that spot over and over again.

Suddenly, Peeta grabbed me and flipped me over so he was on top of me again. Somehow, my pants were quickly swept off my body and he quickly rid himself of his undershirt. The feeling of our bare chests flushed together felt amazing, and I clung to him as he attacked my throat and chest with his hot mouth.

When he pulled back up, I noticed that his chest was sprinkled with blond hairs and I rubbed my fingers into them, exploring his chiseled chest. I felt something rough under my fingertips. I lightly traced the surface and realized that these were scars, battle scars from the war. They littered across his chest in various squiggles and scrawls, making his chest look like a jigsaw puzzle. Peeta placed his hand over mine and looked up to meet his face. He seemed to be silently asking me, begging me to accept me, and I responded by pressing a gentle kiss to each scar, causing him to sigh at each one.

"Katniss," he sighed, and pushed me slowly against the mattress once more. I reached up to remove his belt and unbuttoned his pants. I could feel his hardness beneath my hands, and I pulled back, startled by the size of it. Peeta smirked at me and went to pull down both his pants and boxers at the same time, allowing his length to spring out.

I gulped. Exactly how that, that thing was supposed to go there was suddenly, physically impossible. Peeta must have sensed my trepidation and he kissed me lightly.

"Hey, we don't have to do anything you don't want to."

I shook my head. "No, I want this, it's just…I've never done anything before," I whispered, hesitant to have even Peeta hear how inexperienced I was. Then, before he could answer, I realized that Peeta probably wasn't like me. I had to ask. "Have-have you?"

Peeta paused, and it immediately gave me my answer. "I'm not a virgin, if that's what you're asking." He paused again and studied my face. "Is that a problem?"

"No…" I said, and honestly thought about it for a moment. Of course he wasn't a virgin; he was a soldier after all, and single, and very good-looking. But the thought of him being with someone else like this was jarring.

"If I could take it back, I would. They meant nothing to me, Katniss. All I want is you, and I wish now that this was my first time. I wish I could share that with you," he said quietly, his head hanging low.

Now it was my turn to feel upset. "No, don't be. It's not your fault. How could you know that we would meet?"

Peeta lifted his head and smiled at me. "No, I didn't know we would meet, but I thank God everyday that we did. You're the answer to my dreams. I love you, Katniss."

I smiled back and pulled him down towards me. I was done with words.

The feeling of our naked bodies pressed against one another was unbelievable, and we both took a moment to just feel each other. I rubbed my hands up and down his expansive back and unconsciously allowed my legs to open for him. Peeta took the opportunity to trail his fingers down my chest, my stomach, towards my thighs, exploring my body like a wondrous map, until he reached my panties. He quickly pulled them down my thighs and off at my ankles, then laid down next to me, his fingers tracing their way up my legs. I shuttered when he met my center, parting the lips and sinking his fingers into the flesh. "So wet," he whispered against my lips, and he covered my mouth with his for a deep kiss. He added another finger and kept rubbing, up and down, tickling and teasing the little bud that I had found a few days ago until I was grinding my hips against his hand. Peeta responded by dragging his mouth down my throat, behind my ears, on my collarbone, and then brought his head down to pull my nipple into mouth. The feeling kept building and building, stars behind my eyes, until finally I exploded, bucking and arching against him, making impossible noises that would no doubt embarrass me later.

When I came down from my high and sank once more against the bed, I looked up at a very curious, very happy Peeta. "How was that?" he asked.

"Um, amazing!" I sputtered and Peeta laughed, kissing me on the ear. "But, didn't you want to – I mean, shouldn't we do that…together?" I didn't really have the words to explain what I was thinking, but Peeta seemed to grasp the message.

"I didn't think you could, you know, during, since it's usually somewhat painful for women the first time, so I wanted to make sure you had a turn first," he blushed.

"Oh. Well, thank you?"

Peeta laughed and went back to kissing me, wrapping his arms around my head and leaning his body against mine. He felt so good, so impossibly good, and I still wanted even more from him.

I pulled away slightly and whispered into his mouth, "I'm ready." Peeta looked into my eyes and nodded, then sent his attention down towards my inner thighs. He pulled my knees up and spread my legs apart, and tentatively placed his tip at my entrance. The sight of his large, thick erection made me wonder where exactly it would fit, but I pushed the thought from my mind. This is it, I thought to myself. There's no turning back now. And while a month ago, the thought of being in this position would have caused me to panic, I felt surprising calm and sure of myself. This is what I wanted, what I needed. To be one with this amazing man.

"Ready?" Peeta asked again, and I nodded, wishing he would stop asking me permission already. He pushed forward and I was immediately filled up, stretched like I never thought I could be. Peeta pulled back and pushed in again, going further this time, and then repeated, until I felt a sharp stretch towards the back of my insides. I cringed for a moment, and Peeta pulled out, looking at me concerned. I nodded again, telling him that I was ok, and he went back inside of me, gently rocking back and forth as if not to hurt me, sighing my name against my cheek.

But it didn't hurt, not as much anyways, just felt strange and full and foreign. I lifted my hips towards his to spurn him on and he got the message, covering my hip with his palm and pushing faster this time. I moaned and he covered my mouth with his. "God, you're so beautiful," he whispered into my mouth as he continued to pump into me. I placed my hands on his shoulders and biceps, and he grabbed one hand with his, placing over my head and interlinking his fingers with mine. Holding hands with him made me feel so close to him at that moment, and I brought my legs up around his thighs to get even closer.

Peeta began to move even more quickly against me, and he squeezed my hand tightly as his rhythm became more frantic. He turned his head to bury it in my neck, and I pulled his earlobe into my mouth. He moaned out and I could feel him getting even harder, if it were at all possible, moving slickly in and out. A few more jerks of his hips and he let out a loud cry, pushing his hips into me as far as he could, and I could feel him throb inside of me.

He stayed down in the nap of my neck for a moment, and then pulled his head up, smiling and sweaty.

"Wow," I whispered, trying to catch my breath.

"Yeah," said Peeta, breathing heavily. He placed all of his weight on his straightened arms and stared down at me.

"What?" I asked, giggling nervously. Was I not good enough? Was he comparing me to those other girls? How many exactly had there been? I was racking my brain trying to decipher what he was thinking when he asked me.

"You love me. Real or not real?"

I sighed, relieved. "Real. Very real." He kissed me deeply, cupping my face with his hands before pulling back and smiling wider than I have ever seen, his eyes lighting up with a happy glint in them. He then reached down and pulled himself out of me, and I gasped slightly at the loss of his width. The both of us were a sticky, wet mess, and Peeta stood up, holding up one finger to let me know that he would be right back. I had to giggle again at the sight of his still erect penis just hanging out there while he walked away naked. Men's bodies were definitely something I would have to get used to. He disappeared down the hall and I had a moment to myself.

The sheets were disheveled and half on the ground, and the light from outside was starting to fill the room through cracks between the curtains. I felt…different, satisfied, like I had finally experienced what other girls have. I started to wonder what the fuss was all about, why everyone tip-toed around sex like it was a dangerous, evil thing, when what I had just experienced was incredible. How could something so pleasurable, so good, be so wrong? Especially when I was in love with the man I shared it with. I smiled into the pillows, thinking that there was no better way to show my love than what we had just shared.

Peeta returned, carrying two damp washcloths. He handed one to me and I sat up to wipe myself, Peeta doing the same. No one had mentioned to me how messy sex would be, I thought. When I was finished, I handed the washcloth back to Peeta, and instantly saw there was blood on it. I started to open my mouth to say something, embarrassed beyond belief, but Peeta stopped me. "It's normal, almost all women bleed the first time." I nodded, still embarrassed, but at least relieved that I hadn't gotten my monthly during sex. I noted to myself to look at a calendar and try to figure out my time so it wouldn't happen in the future.

Peeta then laid back down next me and grabbed me by the hips, pulling my back up to his chest and curling up behind me. We were right back where we had started this morning, naked this time, and I felt incredibly comfortable lying in his arms, feeling his semi-hard length behind me. He lightly pinched my upper arm and yelped loudly, rubbing the spot and pretending to be bruised.

"Just had to make sure this wasn't a dream," he laughed. "So, any regrets?" Peeta asked as he nuzzled the back of my neck.

"None," I replied, snuggling closer to him.

"No urges to run and confess everything to a priest?"

I chuckled. "No, I'm pretty sure I'm going straight to hell now anyways, so it's a little late for that. Besides," I said as I turned over in his arms, "I'd hate to have to go there every Saturday just to report the same sin over and over again."

Peeta smiled. "So I get to sin with you over and over again?" I nodded and smiled back. "Well, in that case…" and he flipped me over to have his way with me once more as the sun rose higher and higher against the snow-covered city.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I feel like I have to add this here - kids (and adults), please don't be like these two fools and use protection. They have an excuse because it's 1945. You don't.