Chapter Text
What was it about him that had tempted her?
What was it about Peeta that made her want to open up -- if only to push him away? When they had climbed up the boulder, she hadn't expected to tell him about her father, she hadn't expected him to kiss her. Eager to put distance between them, she'd slid off the boulder, hurting her arm in the process.
Twenty minutes later, they were back at his Jeep, all around them desiccated trees and the bone-colored branches of the chuparosa bushes. She remembered how she climbed them, her father keeping a careful eye on her the whole time. Her father! She could see him there, standing by a bush -- his face a grayish pallor.
When Peeta had asked, "What are you so afraid of?" she had replied right away, "Ghosts." But now, looking back, he might not have been talking about the night-time look of the park. He might have been talking of THEM, of the idea of being loved by someone, by HIM. Yes, that was it. That was what terrified Katniss.
Peeta was always watching her. Now was no different. When he came up to her and put his hand on her cheek, she knew what he was about to do. She remembered the gentle way he ran his fingers along the scrape. It was scary, how good his wanting her made her feel.
He'd wrapped his arms around her and whispered something in her ear, an invitation. Oh! She'd slipped her arms around him and they stood like that, wrapped in each other's arms, a good long while.
Afterward, Peeta fell into a deep slumber. She lay in his arms, the warmth of his body around her a comfort she hadn't known she needed. She was just beginning to drift off herself when she felt him move. He was still fast asleep, but now he moved his shoulders from side to side, like a swimmer moving through water. What, she wondered, was he dreaming about? He was also exhaling from his mouth with long, noisy blows of air. She tried to stop it by gently sweeping her foot against the side of his leg, but each time she did, his movements only seemed to intensify.
Katniss left it alone. She knew she wouldn't sleep the rest of the night. It had been many long years since she had shared a bed with anyone, and now here they were, she and Peeta, lying in rumpled sheets that smelled of sex.
Had he been like this with Madge? From outside came the call of an animal in pain, perhaps a rabbit caught in the wire fence that bordered the backyard. But when she heard the sound again, she realized it was coming from Peeta.