Katniss decided to head over to the bakery and hang out with Peeta for the rest of the day. She liked keeping him company and watching him work. Sometimes there were even little things she could do to help out around the bakery, although she couldn't bake anything to save her life.

She walked in through the front door of the bakery, and Peeta immediately lit up.

"Oh, Katniss! I'm glad you're here!"

"Uh oh," she said. "That must mean you have chores for me to do!" she teased.

"Very funny." he replied, giving her a hug and a kiss. "Are you feeling better today?"

"Yes, all better, thanks to your excellent TLC!"

"My pleasure." he told her.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Peeta rolling out cookie dough on the big work counter, and Katniss sitting nearby watching him, entranced by how quickly and smoothly his hands worked.

"You know..." he said, "There are a few little things you could do to help me, if you wanted to..."

"I knew it!" she giggled. "I knew you wanted to put me to work today! You do remember that I can't bake, right? Unless you want to lose all your customers!"

He smiled at her, and popped a bite of cookie dough into her mouth.

"You can handle it, honey. It's real easy." he kidded. "Think you could drizzle icing on those cinnamon rolls over there and then just sprinkle some of those chopped nuts on top?"

"Hmmm, I don't know... what's in it for me? Are you going to pay me for my services rendered?" she teased.

He looked around to make sure there were no customers in the shop, then leaned in close to her and said "If you help me out today, I promise I will provide all the services that you can handle tonight."

His eyes sparkled at her mischievously.

"You got yourself a deal, Mr. Mellark!" she purred.

She set to work icing the cinnamon rolls, then after that, he had her dipping fresh baked cookies in melted chocolate and sprinkling powdered sugar on little bite size cupcakes.

After she finished all that, she stood up straight, did a big, silly exaggerated stretch, faked a yawn and pretended like she was exhausted.

"Geez, I don't know Peeta, you've worked me pretty hard today... It might take you two or three nights to pay me back for all this work..." she said, flashing her love a sultry grin.

"Don't push your luck," he teased, as he reached over and playfully slapped her on the ass.

"Say..." Katniss asked. "You've got an awful lot of desserts here. What's all this stuff for anyway?"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you! All this stuff is for the mayor. He's having some big party tonight at his house and he hired me to make all the pastries and desserts for it!"

"That's great, Peeta!" she exclaimed.

"There are going to be a bunch of people from the capitol there. He said even Effie will be there! He told me that since we have to stop by anyway to drop off the desserts, we were more than welcome to come if we wanted to. He thought it might impress his guests, having the victors make an appearance...what do you think? You wanna get dressed up and go to a party tonight?"

"Hmmm," she thought. "Sure, that sounds like fun!"

Then, just to be a smartass, added "That is, as long as it doesn't interfere with my payment for today..."

Peeta stopped what he was doing, turned to her, took hold of her apron she was wearing and gently pulled her towards him until their bodies were almost touching. He had that smoldering look in his eyes.

"Katniss Everdeen, you are a bad, bad girl. I might just have to spank you tonight for that smartass mouth of yours."

"You love my mouth and you know it."

He certainly couldn't deny that.

He gave her another little slap on the ass for good measure.

After they finished up in the bakery, Peeta and Katniss went inside to get ready for the party. Peeta put on crisp dress pants and a button down shirt, and Katniss in a cute, knee length summer dress.

They both had to carry several boxes filled with all the desserts from the bakery to the party.

When they arrived at the mayor's house, Madge opened the door.

"Katniss! Peeta! So glad to see you!" she exclaimed.

"It would be great to see you too, Madge," Katniss joked, "If I could see over all these boxes!"

Madge laughed. "Here, give me some of those."

Madge took a few of the boxes from Katniss and started handing them to the servants to put out on the buffet table.

"Geez, Peeta, I can't believe you made her carry all that stuff!" Madge teased.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's why he keeps me around," Katniss said. "He makes all this stuff and then I'm the pack mule that has to carry it!"

Madge and Katniss broke into a fit of giggles, as Peeta then gave his boxes to the servants.

"Come on in to the party," Madge said when she finally stopped laughing. "There's a whole bunch of people here!"

Effie spotted them first, and rushed over to greet them.

"Hello! Hello!" she chirped, as she wrapped them both in a big hug.

"Hi Effie!" Katniss said. "I love your outfit!"

Effie was wearing a dark, eggplant purple silk suit with branches of silver cherry blossoms embroidered all over it, with silver high heeled shoes and a gigantic dark purple flower in her perfectly coiffed hair.

"Why thank you my dear, I just found this dress in the capitol the other day and I simply had to have it!"

"Well," Katniss told her, "No one will accuse you of being a shrinking violet tonight!"

Effie laughed with delight. "Oh, you are such a darling, Katniss! Have you seen Haymitch yet?"

"No," Peeta said. "We actually didn't even know he was coming tonight!"

"Oh, well what a lovely surprise then! He's around here somewhere..." Effie said, craning her neck to look around the large room.

"Probably wherever they have the bar set up!" said Katniss.

"No doubt!" agreed Effie. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I must continue making my rounds and saying hello to everyone! I shall see you later!"

Effie pranced away from them and disappeared into the crowd, greeting her other friends from the capitol.

Peeta and Katniss held hands as they made their way towards the bar, where they found Haymitch, with one of Peeta's cookies in one hand, and a glass of scotch in the other.

"Well, well, well," said Haymitch. "Look what the cat dragged in. If it isn't the star-crossed lovers!" he ribbed them, good-naturedly.

"Hi, Haymitch!" they both replied in unison.

"We didn't know you were going to be here tonight!" Peeta told him.

"Yeah, well, I heard there'd be some names here that I knew..." Haymitch started explaining.

"You mean Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker?" asked Katniss with a glimmer in her eye. She knew that Haymitch didn't offend easily, and he liked her sense of humor because he could be snarky too.

"Ha ha ha, yeah, them too." he replied. "Anyways, the invitation mentioned my two favorite words..."

Katniss couldn't resist. "Open bar?" she asked with a huge grin.

Haymitch smiled broadly at her. "I was gonna say 'free food'.." he said, as he popped the last bite of Peeta's cookie into his mouth. "But 'open bar' works for me too."

He tossed back the last sip of the scotch in his glass, then looked at Peeta.

"You'd better keep your girl, here, in line tonight!" joked Haymitch. "She's a fireball!"

Peeta rolled his eyes. "Believe me, Haymitch, I know!"

Haymitch laughed heartily. "I bet you do!"

Haymitch then leaned into Katniss and gave her a quick, soft kiss on the cheek. "Try to behave yourself, sweetheart!"

Then he turned back to the bartender and asked for another scotch.

Peeta and Katniss made their way through the guests, stopping often to talk with people who recognized them from the games and wanted to get to know them. They were the perfect party guests. Peeta had a natural ease about him that everyone loved, and he had the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation with anyone about anything. Katniss was the comedian, able to have fun banter and come up with sharp one liners that kept the guests laughing.

As Peeta admired her and watched her work the crowd, he began feel a little mischievous himself.

He put his arm around Katniss.

"If you'll excuse us please, we're going to keep making our way around the room," he said, leading her away.

"Where are we going?" asked Katniss, as he led her towards one of the exits at the back of the room.

"Come with me," Peeta told Katniss, as he grabbed her hand and led her out of the main hall where the party was being held, and down a long corridor. He had no idea where he was going, he just wanted to find somewhere where they could be alone for a little while.

"I don't think we're supposed to be going down here..." she said.

"Shhh!" he shushed her.

Most of the doors in the corridor were closed, but way down at the end of the hall, he found an open door which led into a big bathroom. It was so far down the corridor that he couldn't imagine any of the party guests would make their way down here.

Good, he thought to himself. No interruptions.

He led her into the bathroom and shut and locked the door. Then, he playfully pushed her back up against the door. He leaned into her and started kissing her neck hungrily.

"What are we doing in here?" Katniss asked, very curious of his motive.

"I warned you earlier that I was going to spank you if you kept running that smartass mouth of yours, and you've been running it all night."

"You're gonna spank me? Is that a threat or a promise?" she asked seductively.

"Ohh, you're a bad girl, You just don't know when to quit..." he said as he undid two of the buttons on the top of her dress so he could kiss the top of her breast.

"I think we both know that you don't really want me to."

He grabbed her by her wrist and led her over to the large granite sink.

"Bend your naughty girl ass over that counter." he instructed.

Wow! She thought to herself. This was a side of Peeta she hadn't seen before, and it was getting her very hot and turned on.

She obeyed his command and bent over, holding onto the sink vanity with both hands.

She felt Peeta lift the bottom of her dress and throw it up onto her back. Then he shimmied her panties down around her ankles.

He was so aroused, standing there with her bent over like that with her now naked ass before him.

"You're a very bad girl aren't you?" he asked.

"Yup!" she answered proudly.

SLAP!

Peeta gave her a good slap on the ass.

"Say you're sorry for being a bad girl."

"No. If this is where it gets me, then I am SO not sorry."

SLAP!

He smacked her again.

He was so horny for her right now, he almost felt dizzy with lust.

He slid his hand from her sexy ass cheek down between her legs and felt how wet she was.

"If I didn't know any better," he said, "I might think that you were enjoying me spanking you..."

She just looked over her shoulder at him and gave him an evil grin.

"Do you like me punishing you like this?" he asked.

"Almost as much as you're enjoying doing it." she retorted.

SLAP!

"Do you want me to fuck you?" he asked huskily.

"Yes."

"Beg for it." he told her.

"No."

SLAP!

He smacked her ass again.

"What do you mean, no?"

She looked back at him with her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Every time you lean into me, I can feel how hard you are." she answered. "From where I'm standing, I'd say that you should be begging me for a fuck."

Peeta shook his head at her. God, he wanted her so badly.

"That mouth of yours just doesn't know when to stop, does it?"

"You can see for yourself later, when I'm sucking your cock!"

Peeta thought he was going to come right then and there. He had to take a deep breath.

Katniss was gloating with satisfaction, knowing the effect she was having on him.

"If you want me to fuck you," Peeta said, "You're going to have to ask nicely. Say Please."

"No."

SLAP!

"Say Please!" he told her again.

"Okay, okay." she giggled. "You win! Please, please fuck me right now. I can't wait any longer!"

He dropped his pants and stepped up against her so that his hard dick slid in between her legs, pressed against her upper thigh.

"There," he whispered. "Now was that so hard?"

She couldn't resist making one last smartass comment.

"Well, I can certainly tell you what is so hard..."

He just chuckled a little and shook his head.

He then positioned himself to find her wet entrance and slid into her.

He held onto her hips and thrust himself in deeply, over and over.

She held on tight to the granite counter top with both hands.

He fucked her hard, and she liked it, moaning and gasping for breath.

Peeta liked that he could see their reflection in the large mirror on the wall above the sink, so he could watch her face react to what he was doing.

They were both so turned on by now, doing something they shouldn't be doing, in a place they shouldn't be, that it didn't take very long before they both had mind-blowing orgasms, and it took all their willpower to try to keep somewhat quiet so no one would hear them.

He slid out of her and she turned around to face him. He kissed her beautiful, smartass mouth.

"You're still a bad, bad girl, Katniss Everdeen."

"And you still love it, Peeta Mellark."

"I guess we'd better get cleaned up and get back to the party before anyone realizes we're gone." Peeta sighed.

They were just finishing dressing and washing their hands a few minutes later when they heard a knock on the door.

They both clapped their hands to their mouths in surprise, and tried not to laugh.

"Um, just one second..." Peeta said.

They took one last glance in the mirror to make sure they looked presentable, then Peeta slowly opened the door.

It was an older gentleman, one of the officials from the capitol.

"So sorry," said the gentleman, "I didn't think anyone would be using this bathroom."

"It's okay," Peeta said quietly, then from behind the door came Katniss, holding his hand and blushing.

A knowing smile crept onto the lips of the capitol official.

"Ah... You two are the 'star-crossed lovers' that won the Games, aren't you?"

They both nodded in unison.

The official smiled broadly. "Ah, to be young and in love! I remember when me and the missus were like you!"

He lowered his voice a little and said to Peeta and Katniss, "We couldn't keep our hands off each other either!"

The couple just stood there grinning and blushing scarlet red.

"Get out of here, you crazy lovebirds!" the official laughed.

Peeta and Katniss rushed down the hall back towards the party, holding hands and giggling like children the whole way.

The couple returned to the party and blended back in with the crowd, acting as if they had never left. They socialized, and ate and drank until the evening grew late.

They decided that before they left, it might not be a bad idea to check on Haymitch and see if he needed someone to walk him home and make sure he got there without passing out in a ditch or anything. They made their way back to the bar, where Haymitch was still perched with a drink in his hand... and... was that Effie...sitting on his lap?

Katniss and Peeta looked at each other with their eyebrows raised in surprise.

They saw Haymitch say something to the bartender, who then returned a moment later with a fruity pink drink and handed it to Effie. She was laughing loudly and seemed to be very flirtatious. She looked like she had probably had a few fancy drinks, courtesy of Haymitch. So much for her perfect manners and etiquette. Though they had to admit, it was nice to see Effie cut loose and have fun.

"Um, I think Haymitch doesn't really need our company right now..." said Peeta, smirking.

"Yeah, I'd say he's doing just fine without our help!" laughed Katniss.

Peeta leaned in close to Katniss and whispered in her ear, "I guess we aren't the only ones at this party feeling a little frisky tonight! Maybe I should go tell Haymitch where that bathroom is!"

Katniss gave him a playful slap on the arm. She definitely could not see Effie Trinket getting it on in a bathroom, no matter how many drinks she'd had.

As they started making their way to the door to head home, the mayor stopped them to thank them for coming, and to compliment Peeta on his desserts.

"You have made quite an impression on all the guests with your culinary abilities, Mr. Mellark! You seem to be the talk of the town!" The mayor told him proudly. "I wouldn't be surprised if you have a number of these folks stopping by your bakery tomorrow to buy some goodies before they have to return home to the capitol!"

"Oh, that's great!" said Peeta. "Thank you very much, I'm glad that you were pleased!"

"Very much so!" said the mayor. "I will be sure to call on you whenever I need catering for a special event."

Peeta beamed, and Katniss squeezed his hand, very proud of him.

"Thank you, sir." Peeta said, as he reached out and shook his hand. "And thank you again for inviting us to attend your party. It was a wonderful evening."

"Yes," Katniss chimed in. "It certainly was."

She looked knowingly at Peeta's face.

Peeta saw that look in her eyes that said, Go ahead, dare me to say something sarcastic.

She said, "I can honestly say that I've never enjoyed myself so much at a party. Wouldn't you agree, Peeta?"

All he could do was nod his head in agreement.

She just HAD to make that last smartass remark, didn't she? thought Peeta to himself.

Suddenly Peeta couldn't wait to get out of there.

That naughty girl of his was going to be in big trouble when they got home.