My friends are meddling little shits.
After I got back from the sheriff's office, they asked all kinds of probing questions about what I did while I was there. They were both disappointed when I told them that Peeta neither handcuffed me nor had his way with me on top of his desk.
"Then what good is it dating a sheriff?" Johanna had asked in exasperation. Hearing words put to it scared the snot out of me and I quickly hid myself in my room shortly after, claiming that I needed to call and check on Daily Fix. Which was true. I've been neglecting my business.
Once that was done, I sucked it up and called my investors to rearrange our next meeting, since I have no idea how much longer I'll be here in Twelve Willows. I guess since I'm technically not a suspect anymore, I could leave any time, but I don't want to leave Madge when all of this is still unresolved.
That thought led to thinking about how I'm supposed to leave here after what's happened with Peeta. I'm no good with labels and this one eludes me worse than most. Whatever it is between us, I can't stay here indefinitely. We're not dating. We can't be dating. My life is in Philadelphia. Daily Fix is in Philadelphia. My friends, other than Madge, are in Philadelphia. Which makes Peeta and I temporary.
Madge and Johanna didn't get the message when we talked about it after we held another impromptu singing and piano playing party, though, because even though there's still enough food in the kitchen to feed a small army, they rush out the door in the early evening, claiming to have a dinner date with Maysilee, her boys, and all associated spouses and kids. At first, I'm a little peeved that they didn't bother to invite me, until Madge hugs me to reassure me.
"I feel bad kicking you out of your house, though," I mutter to her.
"Don't. This place makes me feel so suffocated sometimes. The only really good memories I can think of that I made here were made in the past week. So have a good time. Defile every surface with amazing sex because I certainly haven't," she says. "Brigham's the only person I've ever been with and it wasn't that great."
"You need to get out more, Angel. We'll find you a decent partner one of these days. But for now, let's go meet this family of yours." She leads Madge out to the porch then spins around to poke her head back in and torment me one last time for the night. "You're still good on supplies, right? I can't imagine he's that much of a stud that you would've already gone through a 30 pack in two days, but-"
"Get out of here," I say and shove her face out the door as I realize they're leaving because they know Peeta will be here soon to see me, and like any supportive girlfriends would do, are removing themselves from the picture to give us privacy just in case we can't make it all the way up the stairs this time...or you know, out of the kitchen. And while I've already decided that I can't let myself get attached to him, I do enjoy being with him and heaven have mercy, the sex is just so damn good.
"Have a good night!" Madge calls out happily as they climb into Jo's car and I shut the front door.
I've been mulling over what Eddy told me today, going so far as to pull out our list of murder suspects to review it for anything I might've missed. I just don't know, and I'm wondering if the actual murderer isn't even on my list when I hear Peeta's truck pull into the driveway, and I decide that Madge is still right. I should enjoy my time with Peeta while it lasts. No one else has set my body aflame the way he does, and I'm not sure that anyone else after him will have a similar effect.
"Hey," I greet him, opening the front door before he has a chance to knock. He's already out of his uniform, still handsome in jeans and a green and white plaid shirt.
"How is it that you're more radiant every time I see you?" he asks, pulling me into his arms and planting a kiss on my lips before the door even shuts behind him. "Hey. How was your day?"
"You mean you haven't heard?" I ask and Peeta smiles.
"Thank you, Katniss. I know it wasn't easy or enjoyable," he murmurs and I shrug, still cocooned in his embrace.
"It wasn't so bad. I got a chance to catch up with Harrison. How about you?"
"My day was shitty," he says, but he's still smiling and now nuzzling my neck. "On top of the usual complaints and daily minutiae, we had one person come in to change their statement, and a few new ones that aren't helpful at all. You'd think they'd know by now that gossip isn't evidence. Not to mention we had a guy from county down last week to make a mold of the wound. He was supposed to get it back to us today so we'd have some idea of what the murder weapon is, but when I called him, he said he had some delays. He never got back to me on when I should expect it."
"Oh?" I ask, distracted by the circles Peeta's drawing on my sides with his thumbs.
"Mhm, and that's the last I'm talking about it tonight. It's the start of what's probably going to be another stressful week, and all I want to do right now is spend every possible minute with you. Starting with getting you naked, burying myself inside you, and forgetting about all of that while making you come all over me," he whispers before biting down on my earlobe then kissing it.
"I thought you didn't want me to distract you with sex," I gasp as his hands slide up beneath my shirt.
"Distract me all you want as long as you're not doing it to hide something from me."
"In that case," I say, and suck gently on the pulse point on his neck. He groans and picks me up, tossing me over his shoulder as I laugh and cling to the back of his shirt, protesting unconvincingly as he carries me up the stairs, setting me on my feet just inside the bedroom door. I push him back onto the bed, slowly peel off my clothes while he watches with eager eyes and open adoration.
When I'm bare before him, I crawl over him and kiss him on the mouth. His hands skim over my body while I unbutton his shirt and separate the flaps to bare his chest to me. I run my palms over the hard planes of his muscles for a few minutes until I feel his erection beneath me, then I grind down into him to get him to moan around my tongue.
I must admit that his idea was a pretty good one, because as we kiss and I unzip his jeans, I forget about unknown murderers and weapons. I forget about my life back in Philly when I grip his hardness and pull it free of his clothes. I forget that I never wanted to come back to this town in the first place as he shoves his jeans down his thighs just enough for me to sink down onto him. And as he touches my breasts and murmurs to me while I rock my hips over him, I forget what day and what month it is.
It isn't long before he's gripping my hips and driving me over him, his blue eyes riveted to the point where we're joined. And I'm just lucky that I can at least remember my name as he moans it, attached to a few heated pleas. My nails dig into his chest and I lose myself to blissful oblivion. Peeta joins me with a shout before yanking me down to him so he can kiss me.
Neither of us wants to stay in the house all night, so we eat a hasty dinner and pack up a few blankets into the bed of his truck before driving clear out of town. I give directions to Peeta as he drives, knowing the perfect place to watch the sunset.
It's probably a bad idea to take a sheriff to the scene of a crime on a first date, although I'm still not convinced that's what this is. But as we work our way through the woods, I can't regret it. Peeta's footsteps and my laughter are enough to scare off any animals that might be about, so we have the trees to ourselves. When we break free of the trees, Peeta looks up and down the worn fence in front of us, shaking his head as he gets his bearings and figures out exactly where we are.
I clamber over the fence and look back at him. "Nervous, sheriff?"
"You're lucky Haymitch was drunk that night and couldn't shoot straight," he says.
"He's drunk every night," I say and Peeta laughs, placing his hands on the top rail of the fence before vaulting over to join me.
"I feel like I should arrest myself," he jokes, following me as we race through the pasture and back into the woods on the other side.
"Haven't you heard? I'm a bad influence," I say and spin around a tree to give him a devilish grin. Unphased, he steps closer, the fading sunlight filtered through the foliage casting golden and green tinted light across his face, peppered with shadows. He leans against the tree and for a second, I think he's going to kiss me.
"I didn't realize being corrupted could be this much fun. Should've tried it sooner..." he murmurs. I laugh nervously and shove myself off the tree. I don't know what to do when he says things like that. I keep walking so I don't have to face it yet. It's only a short walk and one more fence to climb over and we reach our destination.
"Wow," Peeta breathes as he steps out onto the rock overlooking the valley. "I didn't even know this was here."
"Not a lot of people do," I admit and spread out one of the blankets before I fold my legs to sit on the smooth, sun-warmed stone.
"Must have something to do with the shotgun waving guardian," he suggests and I laugh as he sits next to me, leaning back on his palms and closing his eyes as the breeze plays with his hair.
"Madge and I used to come out here all the time," I tell him as the sun sinks lower. "When things got to be too much with her parents, too quiet in their house. Or after my Dad would leave again and the thought of sitting still made me want to crawl out of my skin."
Peeta shifts, bending up one knee to drape an arm over it and lean towards me. I bite my tongue and look away from him. I've never told anyone these things. Madge knew them, but it's not something we ever really talked about directly. Maybe that's why she felt she couldn't tell me about Brigham's abuse of her for so long. We so rarely talked about the things that hurt us growing up, just dealt with them as best we could and distracted ourselves with adventures.
"Is that what you were doing the night of the streaking?" Peeta asks quietly. "Escaping?"
"Not quite," I tell him. "We were dancing."
"Dancing?" he asks, his voice skeptical.
"Dancing to greet the first full moon of spring," I say, opening my arms wide and tilting my head back to bathe in the last rays of sunshine.
"Dancing naked?" he asks and there's a hint of intrigue in his voice. Because he's grinning at me when I finally open my eyes to look at him.
"Yes," I say with a lofty tone, because it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that the best way to greet the moon is in your bare skin. "And we may have indulged in a few of Maysilee's wine coolers that night."
Peeta laughs at this, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Katniss. I'm just trying to figure out how you went from dancing naked in the light of the full moon to streaking across Haymitch's pasture."
"There was an anthill beneath that tree over there, where we dropped our clothes," I explain, waving at the oak a few yards behind us.
"You're joking," he says.
"Oh no, I'm not. Really it was just lucky that Herbert Abernathy and his wife had done laundry and hung it out to dry that afternoon, otherwise we probably would've gotten caught sneaking back into in my mother's kitchen, bare assed naked," I say and tuck my hair behind my ear because it feels fun to share these stories with Peeta, to let him see that the trouble of mythic proportions that Madge and I landed in was almost always caused by impulsiveness then blown out proportion by circumstance. It doesn't hurt that, other than the poison pie, Peeta's never seemed annoyed with the trouble we got into. Just amused and maybe even a little enthralled. "The worst part wasn't even getting shot at, but the sacrifice of my favorite blouse to the ants."
Peeta gives up and lets loose with a burst of laughter and I might even join him. We fall silent then to watch as the sun dips below the edge of the world, the sky dancing to life with vibrant, pulsing colors. Radiantly beautiful and enchanting. I'd forgotten how much I loved coming up here to watch the sunset. It tugs at the strings of my heart, reminding me of all the things about Twelve Willows I never thought I'd miss but apparently have.
The trees, the soft mountain breezes, the radiant sunsets over the hills, so beautiful they make you think your heart might burst. Even several of the people. Like Madge and Peeta. I never liked the gossip or the odd looks I'd get, but despite all of that, some of my best memories were made right here in these hills. In my woods.
Warmth encompasses my hand and I glance down at Peeta's blanketing mine. I lean into him and rest my head on his shoulder, biting back a smile as the sun continues its descent. We talk quietly as we watch the last moments of the sunset, scattered fragments of conversation rather than a flowing stream. As the sky turns to gray, violet, and deep blues, Peeta's fingers caress my jaw and tilt my head so that we're facing one another.
"Have you ever wanted to freeze one moment and live in it forever?"
Before I can answer, his lips caress over mine. Soft at first and then growing in strength. It's such a loving, intimate kiss that my heart flutters madly in my chest and I never want him to stop. For some reason, a series of images flashes through my mind of us just like this, through seasons and years. Then it shifts to us working side by side in his bakery, with me serving up coffee, and each picture only carries more tender sweetness with it until I have to pull back and blink away tears.
Someone like him could so easily root himself beneath my skin, deep enough that it would be impossible for me to weed him out, deep enough to make me forget why I left this town in the first place and what I have waiting for me. I search for something to stop myself turning into a sentimental mess. I remind myself that this is only temporary and force myself to live in the moment. Not think about the future.