In My Life I Love You More

Chapter Nineteen

The barbecue was a joyful affair, close family came, congratulating the couple, and Josephina could see John loosening up the longer he was around her relatives and realized none were going to go straight to the press with his engagement and impending wedding.

She wasn't sure of his past experiences but in her family, blood meant something and there was no money that was going to make any of them alert the entire world of his presence in Half Moon Bay Northern California....... that and most of them were too buzzed or drunk to realize if they had been talking to Elvis or a Fern in a pot.

The afternoon soon rolled into the evening, most guests had left but the few that remained had all walked the twenty-minute stretch to the small private beach the family had access to, gathering around multiple fire pits and roasted marshmallows or hot dogs.

Josephina managed to free herself from her cousins and carefully (so not to spook him) sat down on John's lap sideways, combing her fingers through his shoulder-length hair while her head rested on his shoulder.

It was ....perfect. Surrounded by the people she loved and the man she loved and would marry in two days, she couldn't have had it any better. She wouldn't trade a career as an actress for this, these little moments, were more real than anything Hollywood could have ever produced.

Her mother was animatedly retelling the famous story of how she knocked out her sister-in-law's front tooth after said woman forced her brother to practically disowning the family because they were Mexican and not Puerto Rican.

John snickered at the mental image of the tiny woman who smothered him in affection having a great right hook but one look from Josephina had him silent in disbelief.

  "Jose, have you told John about the time we got arrested and had to spend the night in jail?" Milly her cousin and one of her closest friends asked while her mother was distracted.

"What? You went to jail? Now, this is a tale I must be told." John leaned back further in his beach chair and Josephina sent Milly a mock annoyed look.

"In the summertime, we get these terrible heat waves called Indian Summers, and we were what, sixteen Mills? Yeah, sixteen, and the power had been out all day and it was so hot. So Milly, our friend Tessa and I took Tessa's mom's convertible she had borrowed for the night to drive down the road in an attempt to cool off. And we were caught speeding and we went to jail, the end." Josephina clasped her hands and John shook his head, gripping her waist as he sat up.

"No, no. That sounds like there's more detail to that story, come now love you can't bullshit your way out of this one." He kissed her shoulder. Josephina groaned, accepting the beer a giggling Milky offered her.

"Okay, so Milly was driving and Tess and I were sitting on the backs of our seats in the back and.....we'd been drinking a little," she clarified, watching John's eyes light up like a child hearing a bedtime story for the first time, "and we had been riding in our bras by this point because of the heat.....and we took them off." She buried her face in her hands.

"Took what off love?" She could literally hear the smile in his voice as John rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Our bras." Josephina was mortified as John cackled, squeezing her thighs, and placed another kiss on her shoulder.

"Just as we took them off, a cop turned on his headlights on a routine speeding spot and caught full sight of the pair of us." Milly giggled, clearly more intoxicated than her cousin.

"We spent the night in jail, Milly was so proud. My parents were livid." Josephina grimaced, taking a swing from her beer, and passed it to John.

He took one sip and gagged. American beer was so weak. He handed the glass bottle back to his fiancée who continued to drink from it. It was nice to know however he wasn't marrying a lightweight. This was Josephina's third beer and she was just buzzed.

"Have to say, I'm a little jealous of that copper, getting to see those lovely girls of yours all stiff from the breeze," John spoke low enough that only Josephina could hear him.

If she was fazed, she didn't show it; instead (and it just have been the beer-making her so risky) carefully grinding and pushing her perfect bubble butt against his lap, one hand slipping behind her in the appearance of support her back, but really was laying right over John's jean covered crotch.

"Looks like they aren't the only things that get turned on by excitement." She muttered, sending him a look that clearly meant they need to quickly find an excuse to get out of there.

Josephina suddenly yawned, laying back against John, who took his cue, "Alright, I think it's time for you to turn in for bed or at least a kip." He nudged Josephina off his lap and she did so reluctantly with a whine and he really had to applaud her acting skills.

"I guess this is goodnight." Josephina yawned and walked over to her parents, leaning down to hug her father and kiss her mother goodnight. Waving to everyone else, the couple turned and made their way up the lit pathway, John occasionally stumbling over a rock or root, Josephina, having spent her entire life walking the path had no problem.

"One more night," she held onto John's bicep, "and we'll be together forever." She smiled up at him.

"You sure you want to spend your life with me? I'm warning you, I'm a handful." He smiled cheekily and she rolled her eyes.

"I know that, but you make me happy and I know with you John, I'll never be bored or lonely." She stepped over a root that John barely missed had she not tugged him over it.

"With you, I'll never fall on me face down this damn path." John loved the fact he was able to make Josephina laugh, and she did, face bathed in the full moonlight.

''You're just so damn beautiful." He paused mid-step to tilt her chin up. With a blush, Josephina shyly looked him in the eye, a little taken aback from the look of desire and hunger that stared back at her.

  "John?" She asked, only to have his lips capture hers, a minute passing before his tongue was begging entrance to her mouth, a request she granted wholeheartedly, hands locked behind his neck while his roamed down her sides before locking one of her legs on his thin hips.

He pulled her off the path, pressing her against a tree, leaves becoming tangled in both of their hair, but neither cared, "You still got that blanket?" John asked as his mouth moved over her neck.

"Yeah, why?" He nipped at a particular spot that he knew would make her putty in his hands

"You can't tease a man like that and expect me to do nothing about it," John reminded her, "besides, the forest floor wouldn't be too comfortable with rocks digging into our backs.

"John you're just too much for me to keep up with you sometimes," John smirked as she grabbed his shirt, ripping it from his chest, buttons disappearing in the darkness but John could have given a lesser shit. 

"Good thing I'm ready and willing to wait for you." He stroked the side of her face before capturing her mouth again.