Several weeks later

Her relationship with David Rossi had been a whirlwind and Samira knew that she was in love with him. She hadn't told him that she loved him yet but that was coming she only hoped that he felt the same way about her.

Samira nibbled her bottom lip in thought almost afraid to tell Dave that she had fallen in love with him as she wasn't entirely sure what his reaction was going to be.

"Everything OK sweetie?" Dave asked Samira as the two of them relaxed at Dave's home.

"Oh yes, everything is fine I was just thinking," Samira said.

"You know I was thinking myself that maybe you and I could get out of the city for a few days," Dave said. "Go somewhere nice and quiet."

"Where could we possibly go in public that you would not immediately be recognized and bothered?" Samira asked with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Oh, I might be recognized in someplace like Japan but most women are brought up there under a different system then in the states. The parents tend to be stricter with their daughters. They're allowed to go to college or start a business, but if they embarrass their good family name they're likely to be disowned."

"That seems kind of harsh," Samira said.

"It's not like here in the states where daughters are often encouraged to find a rich husband, settle down. Parents for the most part don't keep a strict watch on how their children behave. Marriages are often arranged in Japan. I won't say it's not the same here particularly in a certain type of families but for the most part females are allowed to choose their spouses. However I have other plans," Dave said.

"Are you going to tell me?" Samira asked her curiosity now engaged.

"I bought this village in Rio De Janeiro. It was basically a ghost town and I'm renovating it. There were still some people living there struggling to make ends meet, but it was basically abandoned. Those people just couldn't afford to move elsewhere or in some cases didn't want to. I worked out a deal with the remaining villagers and the government over there and bought it up, every building. I thought we could go and visit because the renovations are really coming along and it will soon be back on the map. You'll love it I'm sure, as it has a lot of charm. Then I thought we could go to Olympia, spend a few days."

Olympia was basically an astroid that had everything for travelers and residents. It had shops, restaurants, gambling and everything else in between it was a very popular vacation destination for those that could afford to go off planet. It was all under domes like the colonies on the moon and Mars as there was no natural atmosphere. It was basically man-made.

"I hope you're not afraid of space travel," Dave added. "I know some people are."

"I have no idea if I am or not. I've never been off planet," Samira admitted rather amazed at what Dave was saying. He was offering to take her on a real adventure. It was an opportunity that she would definitely be accepting.

"This will be the first for me and as far as I know I'm not afraid of space travel," Samira said. "My dad is a scientist and although he makes a good living whenever we took a vacation it was always somewhere on planet earth. We never went anywhere exotic and stuck mostly to the states."

"Well, taking all your siblings somewhere like Olympia would've been really, really expensive," Dave said. "If you'd only had a couple of siblings then maybe all of you could have gone someplace like Olympia."

"Olympia didn't exist when I was growing up," Samira pointed out. "It's something that came to be in the last 10 years."

"That's partly because we didn't develop the technology until fairly recently," Dave said. "Also, it took someone with a lot of money to develop it and in fact, it's a joint project with several other wealthy people."

"You own part of it," Samira said without even having to guess.

"63% of it yes. The rest belongs to other investors," Dave admitted. "There will be no women crowding me at the village in Rio De Janeiro and as for Olympia I'll handle it if people just won't leave me alone, but security will make sure we are not bothered. That's what they're paid for."

"So you own the lion's share," Samira said. "I'm going to have to take time off work but that's doable. Yes, I'd love to go with you to this village you mentioned and also to Olympia."

"Excellent!" Dave said with a happy expression hugging and kissing Samira causing her to blush at the affection Dave showered her with. "There are parts of Olympia that will be off-limits as there are sections still being worked on to get them up and running, but we're not gonna be able to see it all in one visit anyway so that won't be a problem. If you enjoy it like I think you will I'll be happy to take you back however often you want to go, see some more of it. I've already cleared my schedule for the next few weeks. We've got to spend at least one night in one of the casinos."

"I'll be glad to sit by you while and cheer for you while you gamble. As for me I'm not a gambler, I can't afford to be. Even if I could afford it it just never really interested me. I'm just not very good at things like poker or blackjack. Besides, I've heard that places like that are rigged so that the house wins more often than not."

"Not in this case, because I own some of the casinos on Olympia and I run an honest and clean operation," Dave said.

"So basically whatever you win is already yours anyway," Samira said.

"I certainly get a percentage of the money the casinos take in," Dave shrugged. "But that's business. There are plenty of other places to gamble that are owned by the other investors and I'll probably end up going to one of those. It's not about the money, it's about the challenge of beating the house. It doesn't matter if I lose a few thousand dollars is that's a mere drop in the bucket."

"I won't try to stop you," Samira said. "It's your money."

"But you consider it wasteful," Dave said, as he studied his mate's expression and he body language.

"So many people lose their life savings in places like, that because they can't stop wanting to win back all their money when the games are rigged more often then not," Samira said.

"That is true some of the time," Dave agreed calmly, "but unlike some people I know when to quit. It's not something that I'm addicted to. I can quit any time and never gamble again if I wanted to. I do it mostly for the entertainment value. Besides, a lot of women like to shop and that's kind of like gambling. It can become an obsession just like gambling can. One can actually become addicted to shopping."

"But they also don't become determined to get their money back," Samira said. "Still point made. Some women have the money to shop and the space to put as many clothes as they like and even if they don't they can always give away some clothes that they consider out of fashion or just throw them away. It's just a different kind of sickness. Considering in a large city like this one that that storage space in homes is usually at a premium..." Samira trailed off.

Dave didn't bother to argue because Samira was very right. All he did was hold her comfortably in his arms, even as he started kissing her neck and then moved downwards.

Samira made little sounds of pleasure as Dave gently nipped the skin of her neck and she didn't object when Dave moved lower. Dave's hands slid up under her shirt and under her bra and started to play with her breast gently pinching her nipples.

"Please Dave," Samira said breathlessly

"Are you giving me permission to make love to you?" Dave asked his voice rough with a growl. "Are you ready to take things all the way?"

"Yes," Samira told Dave in a breathy voice. She looked into his kind brown eyes. "You've been nothing but patient which I appreciate. I'm ready for you to make love to me to make you me yours for as long as you'll have me."

"That's gonna be for very long time," Dave told her seriously. Dave picked Samira up in his arms easily and carried her towards the elevator instead of the stairs. When the elevator door opened and they had gone inside Dave told the computer, "Master Bedroom.

The ride was smooth, but Samira didn't notice when the elevator arrived as she and Dave were very busy. Half their clothes were on the elevator floor when Dave stepped out and headed for the master bedroom that was only a couple of doors down. Samira didn't have time to appreciate the space or the opulence of Dave's bedroom as Dave was too busy getting her out of the rest of her clothes and then laying her on the bed. Dave took off his underwear as he had left his pants in the elevator along with Samira's shirt and pants.

"I've wanted to settle down for years," Dave told her, even as he continued to kiss her all over her now naked body. "But in order to do that I needed to find a woman I could love. I wasn't going to settle for just anyone."

"I can't blame you for that," Samira said, even as she panted as Dave started to run his hands over her skin, pinching her nipples as he went, tasting her with his tongue. "Considering your extreme wealth I do realize that you had to be careful. I'm not totally naïve and I know there's a lot of women out there with that would marry you just for your money. I still believe you could find someone better than me someone that you could love and that would love you, a woman that had at least some money of her own."

"Maybe you're right but why should I settle for some woman I didn't love as much as I love you? Someone I would probably stop loving after awhile? Our relationship would only end in divorce, even if that was 15 or even 30 years from now." Dave asked Samira logically. "I've had several woman I've been very fond of over the years, some I even loved for a brief time but it just wasn't the everlasting kind. I know what love is and I know I love you much more than I ever have any other women. I will never find anyone I love as much as I do you so why do you think there's some woman out there that's better for me than the one right in front of me? Don't doubt my feelings for you Samira. I know exactly what I'm feeling and I could search all the universe and not find anyone better."

"That was so beautiful," Samira said with tears in her eyes.

"It's also the truth," Dave said kissing her. "I know you feel inadequate a lot of the time around me and I'm sorry about that, but other women don't hold a candle to you. I want to marry you, make you my wife. You don't have to answer me right now as we've only been dating for a few months. You'd make me the happiest man in the world though if you said yes."

Samira lay there stunned for a few seconds then raised her hands cupped Dave's face. She kissed him softly.

"I have no objection to marrying you sometime down the road," Samira said. "Right now though, let's just enjoy ourselves on the trip that we are going on. Such decisions can be made later."

"Did you just accept my proposal?" Dave said hardly daring to believe that his mate had accepted so easily.

"I suppose I did, but I'm nowhere near ready to start planning a wedding. I can't imagine marry anybody else," Samira said. "For now let's just concentrate on us and enjoy this trip you planned."

"Yes ma'am," Dave said grinning from ear to ear as he started making love to her again.

It was sometime later that Dave entered her for the first time with a condom so that he didn't risk starting to make her immortal, though he told her he didn't want to get her pregnant before they got married. That explanation was believable as Dave didn't want other people to believe he married her just because she was carrying his child.

He was going to have to tell her about immortality sometime in the next few weeks but not quite yet. He had better be prepared to demonstrate he knew as Samira probably wouldn't believe him otherwise it might think that he was pulling some kind of sick joke on her. She would likely believe that it was his way to break up with her or that he was delusional or insane. He was going to have to be very careful how he told her and the safest place to tell her was right here in his home.

~~~Dave and Samira~~~

Samira relaxed back into the shuttle seat of one of Dave's private shuttles. She could very easily take a nap as they were very comfortable and plush.

"Can I get you something to drink ma'am?" asked the stewardess politely. They had yet to take off but that would happen soon.

"Anything nonalcoholic?" Samira asked.

"Of course ma'am," the stewardess said reciting the list from memory and Samira was impressed despite herself.

Samira gave the waitress her order and then laid her head back against the headrest.

Dave on the other hand ordered his usual scotch. "You sure you don't want your usual glass of wine," Dave asked Samira.

"No thank you," Samira said. "Not this time. You've certainly made me appreciate wine. I was always more of a wine cooler drinker before."

"Wine coolers don't have that much alcohol in them," Dave said. "They definitely can't get you drunk unless you drink a whole lot of them."

"A really good wine is also really expensive and since I didn't drink that much why bother?" Samira shrugged. "Besides, I never could've afforded the brands I've been drinking since I met you. I've heard that the cheap stuff taste more like drain cleaner than being good. I drink an occasional glass with dinner when I'm out at a restaurant but not usually at home."

"There's some truth to that," Dave snorted out of laugh, even as he sipped his scotch that the stewardess had brought. "I've had some bad alcohol in my time."

Samira silently wondered when Dave had ever had cheap alcohol, but didn't ask.

Both Samira and Dave ignored the elephant in the room the discussion of them getting married and just enjoyed each others company.

~~~Dave and Samira~~~