"Will we be spending our wedding night in your suite or mine, Mr. Mellark?" Katniss asked, smiling broadly at her new husband, when they reached the hotel.
"My suite, Mrs. Mellark." he replied. "But you'll need to close your eyes for a moment. I've got a surprise inside for you."
She closed her eyes with excited curiosity.
"But first, tradition says that I must carry you over the threshold for good luck, so I'm going to pick you up now." he told her.
"Okay!" she said, giggling. "We wouldn't want to break tradition!"
She heard him open the door, and then felt him wrap her arm around the back of his neck, and he placed one of his arms around her back and the other behind her knees, and he swept her off her feet into his arms.
She giggled again as he carried her into his suite, and once inside, he carefully set her down again and shut the door behind them.
He held her hand, and whispered into her ear, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."
She opened her eyes and gasped. The whole suite was filled with flickering votive candles everywhere. It seemed like every flat surface in the room- every shelf, dresser, nightstand, table- held little white candles in clear glass cups, bathing the entire suite in a warm, romantic glow, and casting dancing light patterns on the walls and ceiling.
"Oh, Peeta, it's beautiful!" she breathed. "You did this?"
"Well, I arranged it." he explained. "The staff here are very accommodating of special requests for newlyweds!" he told her with a sweet smile.
"I love it! And I love you." she whispered, leaning in and kissing him.
"Come with me, there's something else I want to show you." he said, pulling her by the hand.
He led her over to the big picture window and they stood together and looked out over the capitol below, where the city lights were glittering brightly in the dark night.
Peeta started telling Katniss, "Sometimes when I see all those lights out there in the city, I look at them and try to imagine that I'm home... like when we sit outdoors in the summer nights and watch all the fireflies twinkling in the woods behind your house. Doesn't it make you wish we were home right now?"
"Oh, yes, it does make me miss home! I would love to be sitting in the quiet night and watching the fireflies with you..." she said longingly.
"Well, pretend we're there tonight, for our first married night. Forget that we're in the capitol. Just imagine that we're home, and out there is nothing but woods and all those lights are just little fireflies blinking all around us."
They stood there quietly for a minute holding hands, both imagining that they were home, and back to their familiar surroundings.
She felt Peeta tug on her hand, beckoning for her to follow him. He led her away from the window, and all the way across his suite, to just outside the bathroom door.
"Kick off those fancy shoes of yours." he told her. She took them off, relieved to have her feet out of the high heels, and slid them aside with one foot.
"May I take your veil out of your hair?'" he asked.
"Yes, please do." she replied.
He turned her around so she was facing away from him now. He stood behind her and gently pulled out the comb that anchored her long veil, and he set it aside on a chair.
"Let's get rid of that crown too." Peeta said, as he removed the pins that were holding the crown in place, and then took off the crown and set it on the chair where he'd just placed her veil.
"I'm going to take your hair down, too, okay?" he asked her.
"Of course." she whispered. The suspense of what he was doing was killing her. Was he going to undress her, one piece at a time? And she wondered why he was doing this here, by the bathroom...
Maybe he wants to take a bath together, like we did the other night? she wondered.
She didn't care if Peeta undressed her in the middle of the kitchen... she was just so happy to be alone with the love of her life.
She felt Peeta's hands in her hair, pulling out all the bobby pins that were holding the curls piled up on top of her head, and then he gently ran his fingers through her hair until it was all falling down loosely around her shoulders.
"Turn around, my love." he told her softly.
She turned around and faced him. He admired her, and smoothed out some wavy curls of her dark hair that cascaded down her shoulder.
"Mmmm, beautiful. Much better. Almost perfect..." he said, with a twinkle in his eye. "Just one thing missing..."
Peeta disappeared into the bathroom for a second, and then returned to her side, holding her wildflower bouquet that he had hidden there for this moment.
"You're going to need this." he said, handing her the bouquet. Then he reached into her bouquet and plucked out a small white daisy and a little sprig of lily of the valley, and tucked it into her hair behind her ear.
He took a step back and looked her up and down.
"Now you look like my bride. Perfect." he said, with a warm smile and misty eyes.
He waited and watched her face for all the pieces to come together in her mind, and then suddenly, it all made sense to her, what he had been doing.
"Imagine we are home and the lights are fireflies behind your house on a summer night... candles all around us...my hair is down, loose in soft waves with little white flowers tucked here and there... I'm carrying a bouquet of colorful wildflowers... you laugh when you see that I am in my bare feet walking to you..."
Peeta was recreating her vision of her dream wedding.
She brought her hand to her mouth, and burst into joyful tears.
"Oh, Peeta! Our wedding!"
He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.
"Well, you said that we only get to have our wedding day once, and it is still technically our wedding day for a couple more hours, so it's not too late to do it our way. I can't make love to my beautiful wife until we've had a proper wedding." Peeta said to her, as he twirled a curl of her hair around his finger.
"Oh my gosh, Peeta, I love you so much!" she exclaimed.
He smiled broadly at her.
"I love you too, Katniss. I would like to marry you now, the right way, the way we would have wanted it... quiet and intimate, without thousands of people watching. Are you ready?"
"Yes!" she agreed enthusiastically.
"Do I look the way you want me to?" he asked.
"Hmmm..." she thought. "Take off your jacket." she instructed.
He took off the formal tuxedo jacket and laid it on the chair.
"Let's lose the tie, too." she said, as she helped him loosen it up and then slid it off.
"What about the vest?" he asked.
"Leave that on. " she replied. "I like it... I think you look hot." She smiled at him, as she opened up the top button on his crisp white dress shirt.
"Take off your shoes and socks. I think we should both be in bare feet!"
He laughed at her and did as she asked.
Then she looked him over, and decided that she liked how he looked. A lot.
"That's much better. Now you look like my Peeta."
"Okay, I guess we're ready then! I'll be waiting for you over there." he said, pointing to the picture window, with all the lights glittering outside. "Walk to me slowly, so I can look at you for as long as possible. I want to remember you like this for the rest of my life."
She was so moved that Peeta had thought of this. He never failed to amaze her with the ways he came up with to make her feel loved and special.
Katniss gave him a minute to get into place by the big picture window. She peered around the corner, and when she saw him standing there waiting for her, she smiled and started slowly walking towards him.
She did as he'd instructed, and imagined that they were outside in her backyard behind her house, with the woods behind him and soft grass beneath their feet. She walked slowly, gazing at him. She was so much more comfortable like this than she had been this afternoon with the whole world watching. Tonight it was just her and him, promising each other love and partnership for the rest of their lives. This was just the way she imagined it would be when they got married.
Peeta looked back at her, feeling so happy and fulfilled. She had looked magnificent earlier today when she walked to him out in the square, but she had looked formal and regal, and she had been nervous. Now, like this, he thought she looked perfect... just the way he had envisioned her, from her loose hair and fluttery dress, down to her bare feet and her wildflower bouquet. She was beautiful, and she looked more like herself... calm and confident and blissful. As she got closer to him, he found that he couldn't tear his gaze away from her even for a second. He wished that they really were at home, in her backyard, and that he could have given her the wedding of her dreams, but at least this was the next best thing.
When she reached his side, she set down her wildflower bouquet on a side table nearby, then she held onto both of his hands. Then, for the second time today, they said the vows that they had written for each other and had recited out in the square.
As soon as they both finished their vows, Peeta said, "Now I will kiss my bride."
He brought both his hands to her face, and for a couple of seconds, he just looked at her, her eyes wide with eager anticipation. Then he gently pulled her face to his and kissed her, at first softly and tenderly, then the kiss quickly warmed up to passionate and needful. He kissed her again and again, his fingers running through her hair and pulling her closer to him. Their tongues explored each others mouths, their hands were all over each other.
Suddenly they were no longer in the sweet, romantic wedding mood, but in the ardent, yearning wedding night mood.
It was as if all their attraction and desire for each other that had been frozen in time at the start of the Games was suddenly not only thawing and warming up, but was now getting so hot that it was ready to boil over.
Katniss stopped kissing Peeta for a moment and they both looked at each other, their faces so close together, their breath coming in short, trembling gasps. She recognized that look in his blue eyes, dark and lustful, and she knew he wanted her.
She put both of her hands on his chest and slowly pushed him backwards just a step or two, until Peeta felt the cool glass of the picture window at his back. She leaned into his body, pressing him up against the glass, kissing all along his sexy, strong jawline and running her tongue along the side of his ear.
Then he felt her hands begin to unbutton his vest, and then move up to his collar to unbutton his shirt. Her hands felt shaky with her excitement and longing to touch his skin. She finally managed to get his shirt opened up and pushed it back off of his shoulders so his whole chest was exposed to her. She bit her lip as she slowly caressed her fingertips down his chest, sending shivers down his spine from her soft touch. She then held onto his waist while she brought her mouth to his neck and rained warm, wet tongue kisses all the way down his neck and down to his chest.
Peeta was dying to touch her too, yet the incredibly pleasurable sensation of her hands and mouth on his body made him feel like he couldn't move. Finally he removed his hands from where they'd been resting on her lower back, finished taking off his shirt, tossed it aside, and slid his hands up the sides of her dress. He rested his left hand just beneath her breast, and bringing his right hand up higher to touch her skin, he softly grazed his fingers across her voluptuous looking bosom pushed up by her dress.
"I like this." he whispered to her, while he continued brushing his fingers slowly back and forth across her chest.
"Cinna said you would." she replied.
"Remind me to thank him." Peeta told her. "I could hardly keep my eyes- or my hands for that matter- off your chest all evening."
Katniss was about to make some smartass comment, but then she felt Peeta move his face down to her chest and drop his tongue into the space in her cleavage, and she completely lost her thoughts. He kissed and sucked on the warm soft swell of her flesh and she shuddered from the enjoyment of his tongue on her. He wanted so badly to free her breasts from this dress and put his mouth all over them, but he couldn't. The corseting holding up the top of her dress was so tight that he couldn't move it at all. It was driving him crazy, not being able to pull the dress down.
"God, I want to get you out of this dress so fucking badly..." he breathed into her ear.
"Not yet, love." she teased him. "I'm not done having my fun with you just yet."
She backed away out of his grasp for a moment, then reached for the drapes on the sides of the picture window, and pulled them closed.
"Before we give the whole capitol a show..." she smiled.
Then she took Peeta's hand and led him wordlessly toward the foot of the bed. She backed him up against the bed, then stood in front of him. She wrapped her left hand around the back of his head, her fingers in his hair, and pulled him in for another kiss. He felt her tongue enter his mouth, and at the same time felt her right hand reach down and start rubbing the bulge in the front of his pants. He gasped a little with surprise and he felt the corners of her mouth turn up into a grin.
She rubbed him like that, over his pants for a minute before bringing both of her hands down to start working on unbuttoning and unzipping them. She slowly pulled them down, freeing him from both his pants and boxers. Then she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him down, indicating that she wanted him to sit on the edge of the bed. She knelt before him and pulled his pants from around his ankles and threw them aside, then spread his knees apart and moved herself closer in to him.
He looked down at her, still in her dress, kneeling there between his legs, looking back up at him, with the skirt of her dress all piled and mounded up around her. She looked like an angel sitting in the middle of a billowy cloud... a very naughty angel with luscious looking pushed up cleavage that he could look right down into now that he was above her, and he suddenly wanted to press his dick right there in the space where he'd had his tongue earlier and rub it against that delicious, warm flesh of hers.
She must have been reading his thoughts. She saw that hungry look in his eyes as he stared down at her. She wrapped her hand around his hard cock and she leaned forward, so she could rub him softly back and forth across the contours of her rounded breasts.
"Are you staring at my chest again, Peeta?" she teased him.
"How can I not? You look so fucking hot right now, doing what you're doing..."
"Oh, you like that?" she asked, feigning innocence, while she stroked her hand up and down on him, right in between her cleavage, as if she didn't know that she was driving him wild with lust right now.
"You have no idea." he said.
"Well, maybe you'll like this too, then." she said, as she lowered herself down and began pleasuring him with her mouth.
She heard Peeta gasp, and then exhale deeply as he enjoyed the sensation of her sucking on him, and moving her tongue all around on his sensitive skin. He watched with lustful fascination as she hungrily took him in and out of her mouth, making little soft sighing noises as she did it, as if she was savoring the taste of him.
Peeta was so incredibly turned on by this whole scenario. She had sucked him off many times before, but this... watching her in the soft light of the flickering candles all around the room, especially when she hadn't touched him in so long, he felt like there was something so powerfully sexy and sinful about watching his beautiful wife perform this dirty act while looking so angelic and virginal in that pristine white wedding dress, still with little flowers tucked behind her ear.
He felt like he was having total sensory overload right now. The sight and the sensation of what she was doing to him, the sound of her sighs, the scent of her perfume... he wasn't going to last long at all, at this rate.
He put his hands in the back of her hair, encouraging her to continue.
"Oh, my fucking God, Katniss, that is so good..." he moaned to her.
She responded by sucking him harder and faster, caressing her free hand up the inside of his thigh and softly stroking her fingers over his balls. He couldn't hold back any longer.
"Oh, fuck, baby, yes!" he moaned loudly as all his muscles shuddered and he came into her mouth.
She swallowed down the hot mouthful, then heard him suck his breath in again, as she finished licking and sucking every drop off of him before pulling her mouth away.
She looked up at him and smiled.
"I hope that was worth waiting for." she purred.
"Oh, so worth it..." he sighed, still catching his breath.
She slid her hands up his thighs, and then up to his waist, where she let her hands rest, still gazing up at him.
After a few moments like that, he took both of her hands in his so he could help her up off of her knees.
"Stand up with me." he whispered. "Turn around. I need to get this dress off you."
She obediently turned her back towards him.
The first thing he did was sweep her long hair off to one side and kiss the back of her neck, very lightly, several times. He knew that she was very sensitive there and that his kisses would send chills down every nerve in her body.
Then he set to work loosening all the laces of the corset on her dress.
"Remind me not to thank Cinna for this one." Peeta said to her. "This corseting down your back does look hot, but it's not fair. You had me undressed in five minutes, and it's going to take me an hour to get you out of this!"
She giggled. "It won't take you an hour. Besides, good things are worth waiting for, right?"
"That's true, love, but I am running out of patience." he said into her ear with a smile. "He couldn't have just put in a zipper for easier access?"
He kept working at the laces, loosening them up one by one, but his hands were trembling with his eagerness, and it wasn't helping that she kept distracting him by reaching back and running her hands over his body.
"Stop distracting me." he said, grinning.
"I can't help it," she said, turning her head to look over her shoulder at him. "I just can't keep my hands off of you."
"Well, I can't concentrate on what I'm doing when you're constantly touching me!" he laughed.
She was good and stood still for a minute, but then he felt her hand reach back again and slide down his abs towards his groin.
He shook his head at what a naughty girl she could be sometimes. If he hadn't been so intent on getting this dress off of her body, he would have bent her over towards the bed, lifted her dress and spanked her bare ass for teasing him like that. Just the thought of doing it excited him. But he was determined to get her undressed before he did anything else.
Finally he got the dress loosened up enough that he could gather it all up in his hands and lift it up over her head. Once it was off, he tossed it aside.
She stood there, still with her back to him, but now wearing nothing but a sexy pair of white satin and lace panties.
He reached both his hands up to her shoulders, then softly traced his fingers all the way down the soft skin of her back, until he reached her waist. He stepped in closer to her, so that his body was pressed up against her backside, and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. He hugged her close, kissed the side of her neck, then whispered in her ear.
"Eighteen days." he said softly. "I haven't pleasured you or made love to you in eighteen days, and I am so excited to do it now. It feels like the first time all over again."
"If I recall," she said, "our first time started just like this, with you standing behind me as you are now. And then I did this..."
She took his hands that were around her waist and moved them up to cup her breasts.
He inhaled deeply with the enjoyment of having her breasts in his hands, feeling her nipples hardening as he moved his fingers over them.
"Yeah, that's pretty much how I remember it starting." he said. "Only one difference..."
"What's that?" she asked.
He turned her around so now they were face to face, and looked at her with smoldering eyes.
"This time I know what I'm doing. And I know what you like."
"I like everything you do." she said.
"Good thing, because you've got a long night ahead of you, my love."
Peeta slowly knelt down in front of her. He hooked his fingers in the sides of her panties and pulled them down. He noticed that she'd gotten a nice bikini wax while she was being worked on by Venia.
"Very nice..." he commented.
She just smirked at him.
He helped her step out of her panties, then he just admired her naked body for a moment. Katniss softly ran her fingers through his blond hair as she looked down at him.
He slid his right hand up the inside of her leg, starting down at her knee and inching all the way up, then he brought one finger up between her legs, starting at her entrance and slowly slid it forward through her sensitive, damp flesh, watching her shiver as he did it.
He stood up in front of her.
"Lie down on the bed on your back." he told her.
She did as he asked. She got up onto the bed, slid herself backwards and reclined back onto the pillows.
Katniss watched curiously as Peeta walked over to the ice bucket on the counter in their small kitchen area and brought an ice cube back to bed with him.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Something I've always wanted to do to you." he answered with a naughty grin on his face.
He crawled up the bed and lay alongside her, holding the ice cube in his fingers.
"Close your eyes." he whispered.
She felt Peeta slide the ice across her bottom lip, and then he kissed her to warm her back up.
He slid the ice down her chin and down the front of her neck, and the warmth of her skin made the ice melt little rivers that pooled in the indentation at the base of her throat. Then she felt his warm tongue drop into that little pool of water and he sucked the cold water off of her.
She gasped and sighed in reaction.
Next she felt him glide the ice down the center of her cleavage, then he moved it to her breast and circled the ice around her nipple and he watched as it hardened under the coldness of the ice, before bringing his mouth down onto it to warm it up again. The sudden, drastic change in temperature from the cold ice to his warm mouth on her sensitive skin made her shiver.
He traced the melting ice slowly down her abdomen all the way to her navel, and she squealed a little at how cold it felt on her stomach. He then brought his tongue down to her belly and followed the same trail of wetness that the ice had left, warming her where her skin had just felt so chilled, and he sucked up the small amount of water that had pooled in her navel.
Peeta slid himself further down the bed, then Katniss felt him put his hands on her knees and parted her legs, spreading them wide. He slid the ice cube down the inside of one thigh, watching her anticipation build as he inched closer to where he was heading. Finally he reached her center, gently rubbing the ice cube against her and letting the warmth of her body melt it into droplets that ran down towards the bed. He could hear her breathing getting faster with excitement.
When he felt she'd had enough of the cold, he brought his mouth down, pressed his tongue to her entrance, and slowly slid it up forward through her folds, lapping up all the water, then he lingered over her most sensitive spot, licking and circling her flesh with his tongue. His tongue felt so hot on her, after the numbing cold of the ice.
She let out a soft whimper of enjoyment, and he felt her body shudder from what he was doing.
He paused for a second and looked up at her.
"Would you like more of that?" he teased her.
"Yes...more... please!" she begged.
Peeta took what little remained of the ice cube and held it in his mouth, letting it melt on his tongue, so that when he returned his tongue to her to pleasure her some more, it felt very cold, and it took a minute before his tongue felt warm on her again . Soon he had her moaning, moving her hips, meeting the motions of his tongue, sighing and raking her fingers through the back of his hair.
He slid a finger inside of her, and was so turned on by how aroused she was.
"God, Katniss feel how wet you are for me. I can't wait to fuck you." he said in a hoarse whisper.
"Then come up here and fuck me now!" she panted.
"Whatever you want, baby." he answered, as he moved up her body until he was above her, and then slid himself inside.
"Ohh, that is exactly what I want..." she sighed, as she held onto his hips and pulled him deeper into her. "God, Peeta, you feel so good."
She held him close as he made love to her and kissed the side of her neck.
"Oh, I have missed this so much." he said into her ear.
"Me too." she agreed, wrapping her legs up around his waist, crossing her ankles behind his back so she could feel him even deeper. She was already so warmed up from what he'd done with his mouth, that his movements deep within her were pushing her rapidly over the edge.
He felt her body tensing up around him, getting ready for the intense release. He thrust himself a little harder into her to help her along, then she moaned loudly as she reveled in the amazing orgasm he gave her.
He smiled at her, pleased that she was feeling so good. And she was feeling very good indeed. So good that she didn't come all the way down after her release... she was still excited.
"Let me get on top, Peeta." she panted. "I'm not done yet!"
He was more than happy to oblige her.
She unwrapped her legs from around his waist and he rolled her over so now she was on top, looking down at him with that fiery need in her eyes, like she just wanted to fuck him senseless. He loved when she took control like this. She reached up and grabbed onto the headboard of the bed with both hands for leverage. He felt the surge of hormones flood through his body as he let her have her way with him, riding his body, fucking him hard. He held on to her hips, thoroughly enjoying watching his wife enjoy their long overdue intimacy so much. He felt their pleasure escalating together as they moved and breathed faster.
"Come on, Katniss, come for me again. I can tell you're close." he said breathlessly.
It engulfed her body suddenly, making her shudder and moan with her powerful waves of release, this one even better than the last, and this time Peeta came right along with her. She let go of the headboard and he pulled her close against him to hold her tight, their bodies feeling sated and exhausted and damp with sweat.
Katniss rested there like that on top of Peeta's body for several minutes, with her head on his shoulder and her face against the side of his neck, until their pulses came back down to normal again.
Finally she lifted her head and propped herself up on her elbow so she could look at him.
"Wow, married sex is really good." she said, smiling at him.
"Yeah, now I'm glad the president made us get married so soon!" he laughed. "I think I could get used to this, couldn't you?"
"Oh, definitely. I love being married to you." she agreed, as she finally separated herself from him, then lay down next to him and curled up into his warmth as he spooned himself around her body.
He kissed the side of her face, then pulled the blankets up over the two of them.
"Let's take a little nap, baby. Rest up...the night is young yet." he said quietly.
She smiled at the thought, then they both drifted off to sleep for a while.
She woke up a few hours later to the sensation of Peeta kissing down the side of her neck and shoulder, and his hand caressing softly over her chest.
"Awake already?" she asked, yawning.
"Can't help it." he said, smiling. "I can't even stay asleep, I'm enjoying this night with you so much. I don't want to miss a moment of it."
She turned over a bit so she could look back at him. She noticed that some of the candles in the room had burned themselves out, and were now just puddles of melted wax in the bottom of the little glass cups, but a few still remained, flickering dim light in the room. She looked up at him, smiling back at her in the shadowy remains of the candlelight.
"Well then, let's not waste another second." she whispered. She reached one hand up behind his head and pulled his face down to kiss her. While his mouth was busy kissing her, she felt his hand move from her breast and slide slowly down her body until he was between her legs, softly rubbing her with his fingers to get her warmed up again.
She could feel his excitement, pressed up against her backside.
"So, how do you want me this time?" he asked her softly in her ear.
"Just like this." she answered. "I want you to make love to me just the way we are now... slow and gentle this time."
She draped her upper leg backwards over his hip to allow him access. He moved himself a little closer and pulled her hips backwards towards his body, then slid himself inside of her. They hadn't ever tried this position before, and now he wondered why not, since they slept this way all the time. He found that he really liked it, because it gave him such wonderful access to pleasure her body. He could still touch her everywhere... he could cup her breast in his hand, he could hold on tight to her waist if he wanted to, and he could keep pleasuring her, stroking her wet flesh between her legs with his fingers, heightening her enjoyment, all while making love to her.
This time, instead of the hard, lustful fucking that she'd wanted earlier, she wanted to feel every movement, every touch of his hands on her body. Peeta gave her exactly what she wanted. He moved slowly, deliberately...making her ache for more, gradually increasing the sensation pulsing through all the nerves in her body from a slow burn to a raging fire. It wasn't long before he had her sighing and whimpering with anticipation.
"Oh, Peeta, please don't stop!" she pleaded. "I'm so close..."
"Mmm, me too, baby. You feel so good. Come with me." he moaned softly.
He stroked her a little faster with his fingers, while he moved in and out of her, and that was all it took. He felt her inner walls tighten and quiver around him, reaching her climax as she moaned his name-
"Peeta! Oh, yes, Peeta!"
Then he let go too... "Oh God yes, Katniss! Mmmm!" and he felt the powerful spasm as he groaned loudly and he came inside of her.
"Peeta, that was fucking amazing..." she sighed.
"Oh, it sure was." he agreed.
"I love you so much, Peeta. I want to love you like this forever." she said to him.
"Me too...You make me happier than I ever imagined I could be." he breathed in her ear.
They stayed laying together, spooned snugly like that, until their eyes grew heavy again and they surrendered to peaceful sleep, just as the last candle still burning on the nightstand flickered out and went dark, leaving them to their blissful dreams of each other.