The Bride Swap

Part 1 - The Predicament

Part 1 - The Predicament

Katniss heard him long before she actually saw him.

The crunching leaves and snapping branches as he walked could literally be heard echoing through the forest for miles around. Just from the sound alone, Katniss knew something was on his mind. She picked up speed, no longer able to enjoy the early spring sunshine or the crisp morning air as her concern for him continued to grow. She'd been going down this path to meet with Peeta for so long, her legs carried her almost automatically to the small house in the woods, on the edge of the lake where she once swam with her father.

When she arrived, she caught sight of Peeta, hands tugging his hair, staring down at the ground, pacing compulsively as if he were determined to squash every single twig and stone down into the hard earth. When Katniss burst out from the path, he stopped pacing and hurried towards her, scooping her up into his arms for a kiss before she could even say "Good morning,"

Katniss stiffened from the shock but relaxed just as quickly, melting into the familiarity of his warmth and steadiness. His mouth was unbelievably soft - she'd never get used to how kissable his lips were. He stole her breath away and the preoccupation of only a few moments ago was forgotten as he suddenly broke away, leaving her dazed and unsteady. He tugged her to the door of the tiny cabin that had become like a second home to them, the only place in all of Panem where they could be who they were truly were without fear or consequence.

They burst through the door, which Peeta promptly shut and locked, and proceeded to tear at each other, clawing their clothes from each other's bodies. It had been a three days since Katniss had last been with Peeta and, in the interval of time between their meetings, she missed him in an aching, physical way. Pressing her naked skin up against his, the way they were now, their clothes strewn in a haphazard disarray on the floor, only served to make her more feverish with want.

Peeta backed Katniss to the bed in the corner of the one-room edifice as she latched on to tender skin of his shoulders, kissing and biting her way up his neck. She felt the vibration of a tiny grunt as he pushed her onto the bed. He kissed her, furiously, with a hint of desperation that sent a stab of worry through her fog of lust and desire but it soon disappeared when he settled between her legs, running his calloused fingers over her already wet core. Sighing with satisfaction he sank into her waiting depths without preamble. Katniss briefly noted his impatience but all rational thought became lost when he moved his hips, rolling them slowly against her, a sweet contrast to his fury of only a few moments ago. She rocked with him, her belly on fire as he drew back and sank into her again, slowly and under control again.

Peeta kissed her as he moved, cupping her cheek as if it were made of thin glass, like the colored panels on display at the glazier's. His sudden shift in mood brought the worry back to Katniss's consciousness and she raised her hand to cover his.

"What is it?" she whispered, sure that his behavior was not just a result of him missing her.

Peeta bit his lip, as if he were on the precipice of revealing his every thought but instead paused, holding it back. "I love you," he said instead.

Before Katniss could get more from him, he'd slipped his hand from her hold and dragged it between them, searching for that bundle of nerves from which all of her pleasure radiated. With sure fingers, he swept over her, pressing as he kissed her, winding her body into a tight spring of feeling. He slid in and out of her again and the explosion of sensation from his fingers and his cock brought Katniss rapidly to her peak. He moved his hips quickly now, snapping and reaching as she fell apart around him, the waves of intensity swirling outwards from where they were joined. Katniss cried out his name as the powerful shock of pleasure ripped through her. She wanted to laugh, cry, and scream, all at the same.