"Morocco?" I asked Luca after we'd boarded the airplane. "Why Morocco?"

I tried to keep dismay out of my voice and failed. I imagined Azure Coast or Paris or Sandals before he showed me our tickets at the airport security.

"Wait and see." He smiled a secretive smile loaded with promise.

"Morocco sounds romantic," I blabbered to cover up my goof.

A furtive glance his way only worsened my guilt over not being over the moon with his choice for a romantic getaway. The shadows under his eyes testified to either sleeping in the office or not sleeping at all. It took him three weeks to clear his schedule to earn a long weekend together.

I had far less trouble dropping everything to go on this trip, even with school. Even if this school wasn't a high school, but a college, this reminded me about our age gap—the last thing I wanted to think about when I was with Luca. Instead, I wanted to daydream about making love to him.

"Wasn't Casablanca in Morocco? That's like top-ten for romance." Seventy years ago, maybe, but I let it slide.

Luca settled deeper in the wide airliner's chair and brought my hand to his lips. Amusement flickered in his eyes as he kissed my fingers one by one.

A flight attendant walked down the aisle with a first-class smile on her lips. It turned envious as she darted a glance at us before leaning over to murmur her instructions to an elderly lady-bored teen combo. Or maybe I was projecting. I wanted every woman of childbearing years to envy me!

"It's a surprise," Luca repeated, and warmth spread through my chest. "I think you'll love it."

If so, it would be the first time in my life a surprise boded well. Okay, in truth, it wasn't the first time, but it sure felt like it. We'd be together for four days away from L.A.. It would be grand no matter what.

As the plane charted its course above the Atlantic I watched Luca succumb to sleep. One thing I didn't want was to follow his example. I wanted to melt inside deciding if the black semicircle of his eyelashes was more kissable than the tip of his nose. I wanted the flight to be over already...

The flight attendant came and went, bringing me champagne and dainties to snack on, along with the polite inquiries if I needed anything.

"Do you have a Super-Sonic speed! button?" I asked.

She chuckled. "No, Ma'am. We don't have that, but our selection of in-flight entertainment would make the time fly."

"Thank you, I already have all the entertainment I need," I replied, without taking my eyes away from Luca.

The pilot's voice announced our landing in London, where we were ushered to the connecting flight to Marrakesh. In the hassle of travel, the hurry-then-wait race to the lounge, then to the gate, my expectations skyrocketed. In just a few hours I would have Luca to myself.

"I can't wait to have you to myself," I said.

A Cheshire cat's smile split his face, promising more and more. "I can't convey how much I share this sentiment." Only Superman should be allowed to make this statement, because you can request him to pull the plane along to your destination faster.

Without the superpowers at my disposal, I had to rely on the jet engines. It was only adequate, but finally, we touched down.

The sky over Marrakesh was so azure, the line of the violet mountains on the horizon—so dreamy, that I succumbed to its charm before the breeze brought to me the spicy warm smell of that city.

The limo pulled up and its neat driver introduced himself as Yousuf, our personal concierge. I started to suspect that Luca meant to take me as far away from the familiar as possible without risking life and limb. As he whispered into my ear about the wonders of the Atlas Mountains and the Medina, and the tombs of the Saladin's family—things that belonged on a tourism website, but that Luca infused with an intangible veneer of his own admiration—I became sure of it.

Weirdly, a rebellious streak stirred in me. Adventure without risk, what is it even worth? Absolutely nothing!

I wouldn't be blown away, I resolved. I'm a Nazarevich. I've seen men lit candles with hundred-dollar bills without a second thought. I can't be impressed by wealth.

After checking my traveling kit mirror for an appropriately bored grimace, I stepped out of the limo in the courtyard of the hotel....

Breath hitched in my throat. All resolutions had evaporated.

The rectangular reflective pond glittered with the borrowed azure of the sky. Russet, gold and green relieved the azure. Banana trees unfolded their wide leaves next to the darker green fans of the young palms. This went all the way to the onion-dome arch through the wall that separated the gardens from the lobby. Brilliant colors were there too but they didn't come from the flowers. Tiles made infinite circular patterns in white, gold and turquoise. I instinctively gripped my long cotton skirt and prepared to tiptoe, because it seemed criminal to walk on something this intricate. I wanted to cry, it was so gorgeous.

The scale of the palace and degree of opulence would have impressed any tycoon, but only someone like me could grasp that it was not a democratic grandeur of the fancy resorts and landmark hotels. This place had more. It hinted that this beauty was reserved for an elite circle, by invitation only, not just for anyone who could afford to pay. This was royalty-tier.

"Do you like it, Madam?" Yusouf asked after popping the trunk.

Of course slipped from my lips in a little breathy gasp. I was enchanted before even setting foot inside.

"May I suggest a walk in the gardens before the sunset, while I unpack your luggage? The views of the city are at their best then, and dinner is served at that time on the roof."

"Luca? Please?" I nearly clapped my hands.

Luca happily obliged, drawing me under the arch and through the lobby that glittered with more tile. There was a cascade of pools in the lobby as well, but I hurried outside, because the memory of kissing Luca in the garden was an experience worth repeating. Heck, I wanted to do it daily. Hourly! And fuck on the green grass studded with flowers.

Symmetric beauty dominated this garden as well, making it difficult to find a private corner, but those who seeketh, findeth.

Away from the prying eyes, I conquered and released Luca's lips, pulled away momentarily, only to rest against his chest again with a fulsome sigh.

My arms wouldn't leave him. I tilted my head to survey the prize they had secured. His complexion and aquiline nose fit so well with the place he chose.

"How did you sneak us into this paradise?" I asked him. "This property is out of reach for the likes of you and I."

"I cashed in a favor with the owner," Luca said curtly.

Given Luca's line of work, the favor must have been of the old variety, hiding the sins of the old bloodlines under the plushest carpet.

"I feel like a dainty beauty, abducted for a shah from the One and One-thousand Nights."

I didn't remember him laughing so freely with so little provocation before. It wasn't boyish, but he looked younger here than in L.A., almost as young as I was. "If this is your dream, I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you."

"I can never disappoint me."

"Ah, but I don't abduct maidens."

"Just seduce them?"

He shook his head. "I prefer to be the one seduced."

I hadn't even begun guessing back then how Luca loved, so this answer didn't trigger any alarms. I just kissed him till my lips and my body swelled for him, cursing the ritual of having to have dinner before going to bed.

The dinner, however, ticked off every imaginable box... the glory of the sunset turning the red city to ruby; succulent meat and tangy sauces over rice, the crunch of nuts; the flatbread and pomegranate with saffron. The leisure spiced the meal even more, as minutes floated away filled to the brim with delight.

Luca talked and fed me bits and pieces. My eyes grew heavier, and my head nodded, the hands growing clumsy. Sleep fought against the excitement, but the excitement wore off. The jet lag was kicking in like the mother.

"Let me tuck you in, sweetheart," Luca said, "we have an early spa appointment tomorrow morning."

This wasn't a euphemism.

Luca, indeed, took me to bed, smoothed the blankets, kissed me goodnight and left for an adjacent room.

Frankly, I was shocked. And had ravishing dreams from the moment sleep swirled down onto my eyelids till waking.

I understood his strategy the next morning, after I was massaged, oiled, steamed and came to the pool. All of the above was shared only with Luca... then the attendants disappeared. Luca dropped his robe off, stepped over it and into the fizzy mineralized water, and he was perfect. I followed him in.

His remarkable passion for delayed gratification crumbled once his hands found my naked body under water. His eyes darkened from their usual soft brown as he scooped me out of the glorious abyss. For a second, we turned into a statue in the fountain, with the crystal waterfall rolling down my sides to pelt the pool.

He whispered apologies for not being able to wait another moment. I moaned them away as he laid me on the beach chair. I relaxed the grip of my thighs on his waist to let him cover me comfortably. I bit back the laugh when the condoms just happened to await discovery in the basket of salts—of course, he didn't plan this! Surely, the passion just swept him away. Right.

I didn't mind the deception. Let him have his little white lie and enjoy it. This was exactly what he'd said it would be, our first time together neither one of us would forget.

When we returned to our room, the impeccably made bed tempted us to return to it following a trail of the rose petals, redder than blood and as big as saucers. The candles flickered and laced the air with aphrodisiac spices: the sandalwood and more saffron, mixed with timid vanilla.

And in the middle of this splendor, on a separate bright cushion, the ring was waiting.

Luca chuckled with self-deprecating charm. "I'm even more sorry now for being impatient. I wanted you to accept this ring, before accepting me as your lover."

He wasn't the least bit sorry, and neither was I.

I no longer felt like anyone from the old stories. This was a fairy tale about Luca and I. He knelt and extended the ring to me. It reflected the candlelight with the purest brilliance in the world, promising love as enduring as the diamond.

"Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Marrakesh is a beautiful city, with the souk full of bright plates and the Medina with its shadows of philosophers and scientists. The tombs and the charming villages wait in the Atlas Mountains only a short drive away. There're tanneries for the more adventurous.

And I saw none of it, nothing at all. Only Luca, as we loved each other into exhaustion.

He apologized for this as well.

Again, I didn't believe that he was even a little bit sorry.