Free On Solid Ground: Sequel to in Too Deep by Michelle Kemper Brownlow Page B

stuff you couldn’t do while wrapped up in a blanket and reading a good book. What if we moved out there and I hated it?
    “Gracie?” Jake poked me under my chin.
    “Sorry, Jake, but I hate snow. Hate. It.” I shook my head to try to clear all the stressful scenarios out of it.
    He shut the paper and sat up, facing me. “Okay. I’m pretty sure they’re not calling for snow today...in June...in Tennessee.” He laughed and rubbed my knee. “You okay?”
    “You said
career
and reality hit me. We are soon going to be in the real world. What if our careers keep us apart? How will we determine where to go without one of us feeling like the other may be sacrificing what they want just so we can be together? It’s just scary.”
    What was scary was seeing a deadline for me to get my shit together. I certainly couldn’t focus on a career and everything else. How was I going to succeed with counseling, navigate a relationship, find a job, get good grades, and coordinate my life decisions with Jake? I got dizzy.
    “Don’t think of it as scary. It can be our first big adventure together.” He smiled and lay back down in my lap.
    “Together. Is that what you picture?” I knew his answer, but Jake making that statement without an air of doubt in his voice sent a wave of panic through my chest. The fact that I was bothered by his mere assumption unraveled me a little further. What made him think I was even close to being ready?
    “You don’t?” He tipped his head up again, and I ran my fingers through his hair. His eyes rolled back in his head and he let out a soft moan.
    “I guess a part of me was trying to not look that far ahead. I was just focusing on one day at a time. I guess I was doing that to protect myself from heartache, and another part of me was just planning on savoring every minute of our last year at UTK. “
    “Mmmm.” He reached up around my neck and pulled my lips to his. “First of all, no more heartache. Secondly, you know how I feel about savoring
you
.” He raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes, like the images going through his mind were taking him somewhere other than our blanket in Circle Park.
    I lay down and rolled to my stomach so my arms were crossed over his chest. I laced my leg through his legs and sighed as my mind went back to the recent afternoon when I learned what all the fuss was about being on top. What Jake had taught me that day still had butterflies flitting around in my stomach.
    “I know what you’re thinking.”
    “You think?”
    “I can see it all over your face. You wanna be on top again.”
    “On top? On top of what?” I said the words slowly, like I was straining to remember. I played like I didn’t have any recollection of the steamy afternoon.
    “Oh, you don’t remember. I guess I need more practice.”
    “Yeah. You might want to practice some more. A lot more. Over and over again.”
    I let out an involuntary sigh and rolled to my back. Jake lifted himself up onto his elbow and brought his face close to mine. I could see every dark fleck in his beautiful crystal blue eyes.
    “Practice would go something like this.”
    He hadn’t finished his sentence when his mouth connected with mine and his tongue made its entrance. He dove in and out and flicked against my tongue in a rhythm that had me squeezing my thighs together to dull the intense ache he was creating. He rocked his body into mine as his kisses got deeper.
    A jolt stopped Jake’s kiss prematurely, and he pushed himself up onto his hands, still hovering over me.
    “You two make me sick. Could you save it for the bedroom? Please? The rest of us would like to walk in the park without porn on the lawn.” Becki stood with her hand on her hip and her weapon, the newspaper Jake had been reading, rolled up in her other hand. She shook it at us as she spoke.
    Jake and I repositioned ourselves so we were sitting, which made room on the blanket for Becki to join us. She unrolled the crinkled paper,