Chapter 16: Intimate Shower

I grit my teeth with the effort as I try to circumnavigate my large belly with the washcloth, water from the shower raining down on me. I don't remember bathing being quite this…. strenuous.

And it's annoying me to no end. Month 7 is almost up, and I feel like I can't do anything for myself! It's infuriating!

I sigh. "PEETA!" I call.

I have summoned him in this way more and more lately. We worked it out so that Peeta could be ready for anything, even an early birth. Reliably, concerned only for me, he comes bursting into the bathroom.

"Where's the fire?" he asks, partially joking to try and lighten my mood, which I appreciate.

"My muscles, unfortunately," I banter back. "This damn….. I can't even reach anywhere with my washcloth!"

There's a pause as Peeta considers this. "What do you need?"

I feel my erratic moods flare up but I tamp them back down. "I need you to bathe me."

"All right." Peeta pulls back the curtain. Holding my gaze, he takes the washcloth from me and begins to gently, but methodically, rub it over my entire body.

I suddenly want to swoon. Peeta's hands on me feel so good, so impossibly good, that I cannot bear the thought of him stopping this. I should have him bathe me all the time, even after the baby is born.

Finally, Peeta has scrubbed me down everywhere from the waist up except my sexual areas….. all while not breaking eye contact with me. I know why, and I want to almost cry over his reverence towards my body.

"Can you get below my waist?" and I am startled to find my voice coming out in a whisper.

Peeta gently wraps his arms around my waist and scrubs my back, and then my bum. Feeling his touch down on my ass, I feel incredibly aroused, but bite my lip to keep a moan from coming out.

I realize I now want Peeta to touch me in all of my holy areas: my likely perky breasts, the blessed spot between my legs that only I have touched, that only Gale has touched….

There is only one thing left to scrub. I gulp. "Peeta… I usually clean…. down there. Would you….?" My eyes shift towards the apex of my legs and I blush furiously.

Peeta inhales deeply and nods. Gazing into my eyes, he dips the washcloth down towards my vagina. Probing so gently that it barely touches the tender skin, he cleans my most scared area….. all without looking.

God, it feels so amazing! I clench my legs, hoping with all my heart that liquid does not shamelessly spill from there. I lean forward into his personal space slightly and close my eyes, trying not to make any noises, sexy or otherwise.

I bite back a smile. He is being such a gentleman…. almost too much. What did I do to deserve such respectful treatment? So, when he's finished, I smile sweetly at him.

"You can look, Peeta. It's all right." And I mean it. I trust him. The gentleness in my voice surely must tell him this.

Peeta slowly shifts his eyes below my face and chin. I watch his eyes for a reaction as he beholds my breasts, and then as he sees my womanhood.

I nearly gasp as I notice a very tent-like bulge emerge like a thing of beauty in his pants.

He wants me. He wants to have sex with me! Me! And I am almost delirious with happiness. I imagine Peeta and I making love in my bed, and I know if I fixate on it too much, I will become dripping wet.

I feel horny even after Peeta leaves me so that I can dry myself off.