Her unconscious mind couldn't decide whether it was a dream or a nightmare.
It was dark in Katniss' bedroom, other than a couple of lit candles, flickering soft light patterns on the ceiling.
She was lying in bed naked with Peeta. He was spooned around her body in his usual position, but he didn't want to sleep. He had his arm wrapped around her waist, his hand trailing up and down the front of her body, fingers tracing a line from her navel up to her breasts and caressing over them.
She loved his touch. He had the hands of an artist- smooth but strong, talented, appreciative of beauty. His touch was gentle, but had the ability to set her whole body on fire when he explored her.
He leaned in next to her ear and began trailing kisses down the side of her neck. The warm wetness of his tongue on her sensitive skin made her shiver.
She startled as she heard her bedroom door open. Her first instinct was to sit up and see what it was, but Peeta gently tightened his arm around her waist, preventing her from moving.
"Shhh, it's okay." Peeta whispered in her ear. "It's only Gale."
"Gale? What the hell is Gale doing here?" she asked.
"I know how much you've been missing him, now that you've been spending all your time with me. I don't want to deprive you of your best friend, and I don't want to make you choose, so I thought that maybe Gale and I could learn to, well, share you a little..." Peeta explained.
She was speechless. She knew Peeta was generous, but this was crazy.
Gale walked into the bedroom.
"Hey, Katniss." he said in a husky voice. He started removing his clothes and approached the bed.
She suddenly felt self-conscious because she and Gale had never been naked together before. She turned her body over, away from Gale to face Peeta.
"Don't be shy, baby." Peeta whispered to her. "You're beautiful. You should let Gale see you."
She turned her head and upper body back to look at Gale. The hunter's body was magnificent- strong and muscular. And he was aroused.
He sat down on the bed next to her and ran his fingers from her shoulder down her arm, and then reached to her front and touched her breast.
"He's right, you are beautiful." Gale told her.
Gale lifted the blanket that she and Peeta were under, and slid his body alongside Katniss. She felt his hand move to her hip. He eased her body over so that instead of being on her side, she was lying on her back between the two men she loved. Gale then leaned his upper body over her and started kissing her deeply, fiercely. He was propped up on one elbow over her, and with his free hand he grasped her breast, squeezing it lightly, playing with her nipple. His hands were larger than Peeta's. He could cup her entire breast in one hand, and his skin was rougher from years of hunting and being an outdoorsman, but she found that she kind of liked it.
She was so caught up in what Gale was doing, that she hadn't noticed Peeta moving down the bed until she felt his hands parting her legs, and then his warm, wet tongue entering her.
She gasped and then made a soft moan.
Gale and Peeta both chuckled a little at her reaction.
"I think she likes that," remarked Gale.
"Oh, she does." Peeta responded.
They stayed like that for several minutes- Peeta pleasuring her with his mouth, and Gale grasping and fondling her breasts, hungrily kissing and sucking on one nipple, and then the other.
She found that her excitement was building much faster than usual, because she was being touched and pleasured in so many places at once.
"Oh, Peeta... Gale... oh my God...so fucking good..."
Gale was sucking voraciously at her neck now, and down to her collarbone... one hand still enjoying her breast, the other hand tangled in her hair, pulling her closer to him.
Peeta was still busy between her legs... tasting and teasing her with his tongue, lapping her wetness. He loved how his mouth could get her so aroused, making her writhe around and move her hips to meet the movements of his tongue.
She had her hand in the back of his blond hair, encouraging him to continue what he was doing.
"Peeta, don't stop... mmmm... please don't stop..." she managed to whimper.
He had no intention of stopping until she came, and he could tell she was almost there.
"Kiss me Gale!" she said hoarsely. He obliged her command, bringing his mouth to her own and kissing her lustily as she raked her hand through his dark hair.
A few moments later, she finally reached her climax, moaning loudly into Gale's mouth, gasping for breath, her whole body quivering from the release of all that tension.
Peeta moved her leg aside so he could move back up the bed next to Katniss.
"That's just round one," he whispered to her. "We're not done with you yet."
She liked the sound of that.
The three of them lay together in the bed- Katniss in the middle, lying on her side facing Peeta, and Gale behind her.
Peeta reached his hand down the front of her body until he found her sensitive spot, and began stroking her with his fingers.
Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Gale brought his hand up through her legs, found her wet entrance, and inserted a finger inside of her. He slid it in and out of her, exploring her on the inside, while Peeta continued pleasuring her on the outside.
She could feel that both of the men pressed up against her were very hard and needing their own release. She reached one hand forward to stroke Peeta's hard member, and one hand behind to grasp Gale's.
Gale spoke first. "Well, you have both of us here, wanting to satisfy you..."
"We know that you love us both." Peeta said.
"So, I guess the question for you, Katniss, is this..." Gale said into her ear in a low, gravelly voice, "which one of us do you want to fuck you first?"
She looked over her shoulder at Gale, and then looked back at Peeta.
She couldn't decide. She wanted them both.
Katniss woke up suddenly, gasping for breath and drenched in sweat. She was afraid to turn over for fear of who she might find in the bed with her, but to her relief she was alone.
She threw off the blanket, stumbled to the window and opened it, taking in deep breaths of fresh air. She figured it must be late morning, because the sun was very bright. That would mean that Peeta had gotten up and gone to the bakery while she slept.
Thank God he wasn't here for THAT dream, she thought to herself. She couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of things she might have been saying in her sleep.
She went back to the bed, sat down and gulped down the glass of water that Peeta had left for her last night.
Next to the water glass she found a note.
It read, Good morning! Didn't want to wake you. Hope you feel better today. Love, Peeta.
She slumped over onto her pillow. Peeta's sweet note made her feel even more guilty about the dream.
This has got to stop, she thought. Why am I even dreaming about Gale? I don't want Gale! I made my decision!
She wished that she had someone to talk to about this. Usually whenever she had a problem, she always went to Gale for advice. But now, Gale was the problem. She knew that seeing him right now would almost certainly make matters worse. She knew she needed to put some space between herself and Gale until things went back to normal.
She just wanted to go back in time to the other day, when Gale was just her friend and she was madly in love with Peeta. No complications, no drama.
Well, she reminded herself, I still have that. My wonderful Peeta, who I am still madly in love with.
Then she had a sobering thought that made her shudder. She realized that she had better get her head on straight and totally avoid Gale altogether for a while... maybe quite a while.
Unlike the Peeta in her dream, the Peeta who really shared her bed would never be willing to share her with Gale, or with anyone else for that matter. Not even he was that generous and forgiving.