“
You know," Clary said, "most psychologists agree that hostility is really just sublimated sexual attraction.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
“
Flirting is a promise of sexual intercourse without a guarantee.
”
”
Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)
“
If your flirting strategy is indistinguishable from harassment, it's not everyone else that's the problem.
”
”
John Scalzi
“
Maybe it was just an over abundance of hormones, a response to a sexual starvation diet. I'd been without for so long that my body was craving the worst possible thing for me. Cooper was carnal triple chocolate cheesecake, deep-fried on a stick.
”
”
Molly Harper (How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf, #1))
“
They say I should stay away from you,” I said. “They said you’re not good for me.”
“I’m not,” he said with a wicked smile, “But doesn’t that make it even more fun?
”
”
Kassandra Cross (Black Magic)
“
What is flirtation? One might say that it is behavior leading another to believe that sexual intimacy is possible, while preventing that possibility from becoming a certainty. In other words, flirting is a promise of sexual intercourse without a guarantee.
”
”
Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)
“
The Three Cs, I told myself. When you're not Comfortable with it, it's not a Compliment, it's Creepy.
”
”
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Alice in Charge (Alice, #22))
“
Feminists don’t single out rape jokes because rape is “worse” than other crimes—we single them out because we live in a culture that actively strives to shrink the definition of sexual assault; that casts stalking behaviors as romance; blames victims for wearing the wrong clothes, walking through the wrong neighborhood, or flirting with the wrong person; bends over backwards to excuse boys-will-be-boys misogyny; makes the emotional and social costs of reporting a rape prohibitively high; pretends that false accusations are a more dire problem than actual assaults; elects officials who tell rape victims that their sexual violation was “god’s plan”; and convicts in less than 5 percent of rape cases that go to trial.
”
”
Lindy West (Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman)
“
I think... girls have a hard time being interesting. It’s actually easier to be famous, or notorious, than it is to be interesting. In our world, girls climb very well until they hit puberty-sexual maturity-and then they begin to fall out of the tree. They start role-playing instead of thinking, flirting instead of learning. They start admiring how smart the boys are-or how athletic or how handsome-instead of concentrating on their own intelligence.
”
”
Sheri S. Tepper (The Family Tree)
“
A lot of female teachers do this - flirt with male students. I wonder if that's the only way they know how to interact with men. Like they use their sexuality to get what they want.
”
”
Matthew Quick (Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock)
“
He studied me with his predator's gaze, assessing me from head to toe. I studied him back. He didn't just occupy space; he saturated it. The room had been full of books before, now it was full of him. About thirty, six foot two or three, he had dark hair, golden skin, and dark eyes. His features were strong, chiseled. I couldn't pinpoint his nationality any more than I could his accent; some kind of European crossed with Old World Mediterranean or maybe an ancestor with dark Gypsy blood. He wore an elegant, dark gray Italian suit, a crisp white shirt, and a muted patterned tie. He wasn't handsome. That was too calm a word. He was intensely masculine. He was sexual. He attracted. There was an omnipresent carnality about him, in his dark eyes, in his full mouth, in the way he stood. He was the kind of man I wouldn't flirt with in a million years.
”
”
Karen Marie Moning (Darkfever (Fever, #1))
“
I feel like there’s a genuine hole in me. The little death, almost. I need stimulation. I used to need physical stimulation constantly, whether that be from listening to the sound of my own voice, or flirting with guys or girls. I’m not bisexual, but that moment when you realise someone likes you – it’s the best feeling in the world. If you could bottle it..
”
”
Matt Healy
“
He surveyed me, his eyes half closed, as if wondering if I were a delicious snack. I had an image of a massive dragon circling me slowly, eyes full of magic fixed on me as he moved, considering if he should bite me in half.
“Dragons.” Rogan snapped his fingers.
Oh crap.
“I wondered why I kept getting dragons around you.” He leaned forward. His eyes lit up, turning back to their clear sky blue. “You think I’m a dragon.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” My face felt hot. I was probably blushing. Damn it.
His smile went from amused to sexual, so charged with promise that carnal was the only way to describe it. I almost bolted out of my chair.
“Big powerful scary dragon.”
“You have delusions of grandeur.”
“Do I have a lair? Did I kidnap you to it from your castle?”
I stared straight at him, trying to frost my voice. “You have some strange fantasies, Rogan. You may need professional help.”
“Would you like to volunteer?”
“No. Besides, dragons kidnap virgins, so I’m out.” And why had I just told him I was not a virgin? Why did I even go there?
“It doesn’t matter if I’m the first. It only matters that I’ll be the last.”
“You won’t be the first, the last, or anything in between. Not in a million years.”
He laughed.
“Rogan,” I ground out through my teeth. “I’m on the clock. My client is in the next room mourning his wife. Stop flirting with me.”
“Stop? I haven’t even started.
”
”
Ilona Andrews (White Hot (Hidden Legacy, #2))
“
I just meant this stuff with me is different. And I definitely wouldn't call it regular bullying."
"So what would you call it, then?"
I opened my mouth to answer.
But I didn't have any words.
Because all the words I could think of—bullying, teasing, flirting—seemed too simple, too small, to hold all the hurt I was feeling.
”
”
Barbara Dee (Maybe He Just Likes You)
“
So I’m guessing,” he went on, pointing with his fork, “that you’re in a pretty good position to answer the question of where to draw the line between seduction and sexual harassment. Is it how you say things, or what you say?”
She pondered with a quiet hum for a few seconds before explaining: “Some think it has to do with the artistry of delivery, but in fact you can have an eloquent harasser and a clumsy flirt. The difference is the message. Both begin with the same basic premise: ‘I desire you.’ Where they diverge is in what follows that premise. The harasser says: ‘I desire you, and I’m going to keep at you until you give in.’ But the seducer’s message puts the power into the hands of the person being desired, with the message being: ‘I desire you, and if the feeling is mutual, come and get it.’ The harasser demands, the seducer invites. That’s the difference.
”
”
Rikki de la Vega (Bridget's Calling (Free Spirits #2))
“
Love begins with the stage of subconscious primitive lust and attraction. I’m saying primitive because at this very early stage there is really no difference between primitive man and modern man.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost)
“
Feeble human body, hey?”
Mikael said it in the way that he had, that made everything sound slightly naughty and sexual. I aimed three quick jabs at his head, which wiped the innuendo off his face.
”
”
Melanie Cusick-Jones (Cirque de la Nuit)
“
Nature programmed the neurobiological processes of early love to appear as something beyond the primitive sexual cravings of the genitals. So, from an evolutionary standpoint, it all leads to copulation and reproduction, but from the perspective of the individual who has recently fallen head over heels in love with someone, it is mostly about a sensation of warmth and delight, and rarely of sexual nature.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost)
“
I was born without the flirt gene. It's truly awful for me." That was no exaggeration. " I mean, look at how I screwed up last night with Ty. He was flirting and tossing off sexual innuendos, and I just looked at him and said I would not have anal sex with him."
"You what?" Suzanne shrieked so loud that Imogen saw half a dozen other fitness patrons swivel their heads to look at them. "Did he ask you to? At the party?"
"No, of course not." Which was what made it all the more ridiculous. "We were in the car and he was hinting about positions, what was to come, etc., and I just blurted out that I wasn't doing that with him."
"Girl..." was Suzanne's though on the matter, her expression one of total horror. "Do not bring up the back door unless he's knocking on it.
”
”
Erin McCarthy (Hard and Fast (Fast Track, #2))
“
I like to watch sports, not play them. If you remember, I'm lacking in body awareness."
Liam's voice dropped to a sensual purr. "I'm very aware of your sexy body, so that's not a problem."
He thinks I'm sexy. She shoved that delicious little nugget away to savor later.
”
”
Sara Desai (The Dating Plan (Marriage Game, #2))
“
When I turned thirty, I briefly flirted with the notion of undergoing sexual reassignment surgery. Once again, I was ready for a big change in my life. Plus, I was having a really difficult time meeting gay guys who didn’t seem gay yet were still caustic. So I figured, as a woman I would have a whole new pool of men from which to fish.
I decided that I would probably opt for the self-lubricating vagioplasty option. …the plus side of this vagina was that it was, like the name implies, self-lubricating. So I wouldn’t need to give myself away and reach for the K-Y. On the downside, it was always self-lubricating, so you had to wear a maxipad at all times, even at funerals.
”
”
Augusten Burroughs (Magical Thinking: True Stories)
“
AI doesn't take any breaks. Plus, AI won't file sexual harassment charges when your boss flirts with it.
”
”
Jarod Kintz (Powdered Saxophone Music)
“
Breaking eye contact quickly (friendly) vs looking at her seductively (sexual) -“What do you like most in a guy?” (friendly) vs “What do you find sexiest in a guy?” (sexual)
”
”
Dave Perrotta (Conversation Casanova: How to Effortlessly Start Conversations and Flirt Like a Pro)
“
Male aggressiveness consists in asking a woman to have intercourse and waiting for her to say yes, or a definite no. Skilful tacticians enhance their chances of making out by distributing their attentions among several women at a time (one version of 'playing the field') thus increasing their statistical chances for a favorable answer, depending on circumstances. This is the height of male aggressiveness that is tolerated. Genuine aggressiveness - rape - [men] have forbidden themselves by law.
”
”
Esther Vilar (The Polygamous Sex)
“
She wiggled beneath Sam but his hard, heavy body was impossible to move, and the more she squirmed, the harder a certain part of it seemed to get.
"I thought you said no missionary," he whispered.
"Oh my God," she raged, keeping her voice low. "Are you getting off on this?"
"I'm a man. You're rubbing yourself all over me. What did you think was going to happen?"
"I thought you were all about self-control." Something she seemed to be lacking at the moment. Fire licked between her thighs. And the heat... She felt like molten lava was running through her veins.
"Not around you.
”
”
Sara Desai (The Marriage Game (Marriage Game, #1))
“
I am stubbornly proud of my sexuality. To anyone who has looked down on me from a moral high ground , I say, "I am not a lady. Never have been, don't care to be." I have flirted unabashedly. I've been hungry and demanding; I've told more than a few lovers how to pleasure me in no uncertain terms.
”
”
Anna Camilleri (I Am a Red Dress: Incantations on a Grandmother, a Mother, and a Daughter)
“
You never listen to me anymore. Before, if I was talking to you, you would always listen. But now you have no time to even talk to me.
'Yeah... Has Keaty told you not to eat the Stew?'
'Richard!'
I frowned 'What?'
'You are not listening to me!'
'… Oh. Well I'm sorry. I've got a lot on my mind.'
'Not me.'
'Huh?'
'I am not on your mind.'
'Uh... of course you are.'
'I am not' she poked me in the ribs. 'I think you do not love me anymore.'
I looked at her in astonishment '… Are you serious?'
'Very serious' she said petulantly
'But... I mean... do we have to talk about this right now?'
'Yes. It must be now. Etienne is not here, and maybe soon I will never see you agai...'
'Francoise!' I hissed. 'Keep it down!'
'Maybe I should keep it down but maybe I should not. In the dope field, when I would not be quiet, you pushed me to the ground and held me tightly'. She giggled. 'It was very exciting'.
”
”
Alex Garland (The Beach)
“
EXERCISE Creating Authentic Relationships The questions below deal with issues most people take for granted and let society define for them. You can start with a blank canvas and create your own definitions. • How do you define intimacy and closeness? • What constitutes a relationship for you? • Are there different types of relationships you wish you could have? • How long should a significant relationship last? • What is sex? Is it intercourse? Is it more specific: penis-in-vagina or penis-in-ass intercourse? What about manual stimulation and penetration, oral sex, sex toys, BDSM play? • What kinds of things do you consider intimate? Sex, sexual touch, genital contact, a BDSM scene with no sexual aspect? • Must you live near a partner for a relationship to be important? • How do you define fidelity? • What constitutes loving, affectionate, sexual, and romantic behavior? Where do things like flirting, kissing, love letters, gift giving, dating, courting, phone calls, emails, and instant messages fit into your definitions? • What does commitment mean to you? How do you define a committed relationship? • What are the most important things you need in a relationship? • How important is it for you to live with a partner? • Realistically , how much time and energy do you have to give to a relationship?
”
”
Tristan Taormino (Opening Up: A Guide To Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships)
“
Consider this a lesson in being an adult. If you go to a boy’s house dressed like an invitation, take shots and flirt with him all night, give every indication of wanting to sleep with him, what do you think he’s going to do? Ms. Hargrove can’t go crying wolf over every sexual encounter she regrets, or else cops would spend all our time chasing hungover college kids after a bad lay.
”
”
Ashley Winstead (The Last Housewife)
“
I felt more comfortable when you were cursing like a sailor and calling me filthy names."
"Are you conceding defeat?" She tried to keep the hopeful tone from her voice when he tucked his laptop into his leather briefcase.
"Of course not." His dark eyes flashed with mirth. "I have a business meeting in half an hour which I had hoped to conduct here, but I'm too much of a gentleman to intrude on your privacy while you crush the hearts of ten sad and lonely men. I look forward to battling with you tomorrow, Miss Patel. May the best man win."
After the door closed behind him, she sat back in her chair surrounded by his warmth and the intoxicating scent of his cologne. She knew his type. Hated it. Arrogant. Cocky. Egotistical. Ultra-competitive. Fully aware of how devastatingly handsome he was. A total player. She would have swiped left if his profile had popped up on desi Tinder.
So why couldn't she stop smiling?
”
”
Sara Desai (The Marriage Game (Marriage Game, #1))
“
But you’re a healthy young woman, Dolores, and I imagine that at some time in the future, you’ll want to become sexually active. And at the moment, you’re still vulnerable because—” I already wanted to become sexually active. Was active, up to a point—that’s how much he knew. I’d tongue-kissed with both Dion and Little Chuck in the chemical room down at the photo lab—had flirted and lured them in there and then yanked their hands away from anything more than what I felt like doing. What was so vulnerable about that?
”
”
Wally Lamb (She's Come Undone)
“
A male approaches a female and begins to flirt. She is not aware that he has slipped her a drug that renders her unconscious. He then takes her body to his home, positions her correctly, and has sex with her while she is knocked out. If you’ve read about Bill Cosby, this may sound familiar. You may be surprised to learn that this is one of the mating strategies of the funnel-web spider, Agelenopsis aperta.44 These male spiders have evolved a strategy of anesthetizing females who are reluctant to mate using a chemical cocktail.
”
”
David M. Buss (When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault)
“
I’m trying to think…are you the florist?” Malcolm’s voice was slightly off, as if it were coming from someplace other than his own throat. ...
She took a sip from her own drink. “Nope. I like flowers as much as the next woman, but I can’t tell a dahlia from a daisy.”
“Or a lupine from a lobelia?” Hugh Parteger said.
“Or a carnation from a chrysanthemum.”
“You’re obviously not into floral sects,” he said.
She almost spit out a mouthful of kir royale laughing. ... “Mr. Parteger, I don’t discuss what I do in my garden bed with anyone.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “For most women, it’s just a matter of finding the right tool.”
She took another drink, enjoying herself immensely. ... “Yes, but it’s such a tedious process, finding one that fits and works really well. Better just stick to hand weeding. Fewer complications that way.”
“Ah, so you’re a master gardener.”
She actually giggled. How mortifying. She took a long swallow from her drink. “As Voltaire said, we must cultivate our garden.”
“I believe he also said, ‘Once, a philosopher, twice, a pervert.
”
”
Julia Spencer-Fleming (A Fountain Filled with Blood (Rev. Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries, #2))
“
(...) many of these comments were unarguable mean-spirited and insulting, and no attempt was made to disguise them as flirting. I was clearly being overtly sexualized by these strangers, and not because I was deemed attractive, but simply because I appeared to be a woman. And the purpose of such blatantly vulgar remarks was not to express attraction or potencially garner my interest, but rather to exert a modicum of control over me: to make me feel uncomfortable, intimidated, angry, or fearful, to force me to look away or to cross the street to avoid their harassment.
”
”
Julia Serano (Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity)
“
People may see me as a good woman, even though I don't think so myself. I know exactly who I am. I am a good woman because I am a mother, a wife and also a person who believes in love, care, compassion, honesty, candor and respect. But I'm also a bad woman who knows how to use her charm to subdue a man. I know that I am basically a flirt. I have the sexual attractiveness behind my simple and straightforward appearance. I love getting people to think about what they want from me and what I can do for fun. That's what always occupies my mind, something interesting and never boring to write or tell.
”
”
Titon Rahmawan
“
She doesn't look half as good in her leather pants as I do, and she's only got half the ass."
Liam slid one hand down and squeezed her bottom. "Damn right. You're the sexiest woman here."
"You just like me in leather."
"I like you out of leather more." His smile faded when she lurched to the side. "Why didn't you tell me you were so stiff? You can barely walk."
"I walked over here just fine."
"Because you were jealous." A slow smile spread across his face. "Of Tanya."
"Don't be ridiculous."
His eyes softened and he turned, pulling her against him. Leaning down to brush his lips over her mouth, he said, "You care."
"Maybe I fake care because we're fake engaged." Her pulse kicked up a notch as he nuzzled her neck.
"Maybe you really care even though we're fake engaged."
Feeling bold and brave in her biker leather, she said, "What if I did care? What would you do about it?"
"I'd take a shortcut home," Liam murmured. "And then I'd take advantage of the fact that you can't close your legs.
”
”
Sara Desai (The Dating Plan (Marriage Game, #2))
“
Males of all species are made for wooing females, and females typically choose among their suitors. If you take a closer look, you can observe such behavior all around you. The beautiful bird chirping outside your window. It’s a mating call. That pretty little bird is trying to attract a potential mate, so that it can propagate its genes. Why does the peacock have such beautiful feathers? It is to attract a healthy female. He as well is trying to propagate his genes. Even we humans, are not much different from the rest of the animal kingdom when it comes to attracting potential mates. When women dress up for their night out at the club, they are doing so to look attractive. This is a subconscious evolutionary desire to attract as many potential mates as possible.... While women tend to grab attention with their looks, men on the other hand, tend to attract as many potential females as possible, by showing off their resources. When a man shows off with his fancy car, expensive gold watch and suit, or flexes his muscles and brags about how many credit cards he owns, he’s doing so to make himself desirable by healthy women, in order to propagate his genes. It is all in the pursuit of reproduction.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (What is Mind?)
“
You're a shameless flirt.'
'Thank you.' He grins and goes back to carving.
'It wasn't a compliment.'
'Don't mind her, she's just sexually frustrated. Makes a girl crabby.'
...
'That has nothing to do with it.' Gods, could she have said that a little louder?
'And yet I don't hear you denying it.' She smiled sweetly at me.
'I'm sorry I don't make the cut,' Liam teases. 'But I'm sure Riorson would be fine with my reviewing a couple candidates, especially if it means you'll stop flipping him off in front of his entire wing.'
'And how exactly would you be reviewing candidates? What will you be scoring?' Rhiannon asks, one eyebrow raised above her wide grin. 'This I have to hear.'
I manage a straight face for all of two seconds before laughing at how horrified he suddenly looks. 'Thanks for the offer, though. I'll make sure to run any potential liaisons by you.'
'I mean, you could watch,' Rhiannon continues, blinking innocently at him. 'Just to be sure she's fully covered. You know, so no one... sticks it to her.'
'Oh, are we telling dick jokes now?' Ridoc asks from Liam's side. 'Because my entire life has led up to this moment.'
Even Sawyer laughs.
'Fuck me,' Liam mutters under his breath.
”
”
Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
“
He stared at it in utter disbelief while his secretary, Peters, who’d only been with him for a fortnight, muttered a silent prayer of gratitude for the break and continued scribbling as fast as he could, trying futilely to catch up with his employer’s dictation.
“This,” said Ian curtly, “was sent to me either by mistake or as a joke. In either case, it’s in excruciatingly bad taste.” A memory of Elizabeth Cameron flickered across Ian’s mind-a mercenary, shallow litter flirt with a face and body that had drugged his mind. She’d been betrothed to a viscount when he’d met her. Obviously she hadn’t married her viscount-no doubt she’d jilted him in favor of someone with even better prospects. The English nobility, as he well knew, married only for prestige and money, then looked elsewhere for sexual fulfillment. Evidently Elizabeth Cameron’s relatives were putting her back on the marriage block. If so, they must be damned eager to unload her if they were willing to forsake a title for Ian’s money…That line of conjecture seemed so unlikely that Ian dismissed it. This note was obviously a stupid prank, perpetrated, no doubt, by someone who remembered the gossip that had exploded over that weekend house party-someone who thought he’d find the note amusing.
Completely dismissing the prankster and Elizabeth Cameron from his mind, Ian glanced at his harassed secretary who was frantically scribbling away. “No reply is necessary,” he said. As he spoke he flipped the message across his desk toward his secretary, but the white parchment slid across the polished oak and floated to the floor. Peters made an awkward dive to catch it, but as he lurched sideways all the other correspondence that went with his dictation slid off his lap onto the floor. “I-I’m sorry, sir,” he stammered, leaping up and trying to collect the dozens of pieces of paper he’d scattered on the carpet. “Extremely sorry, Mr. Thornton,” he added, frantically snatching up contracts, invitations and letters and shoving them into a disorderly pile.
His employer appeared not to hear him. He was already rapping out more instructions and passing the corresponding invitations and letters across the desk. “Decline the first three, accept the fourth, decline the fifth. Send my condolences on this one. On this one, explain that I’m going to be in Scotland, and send an invitation to join me there, along with directions to the cottage.”
Clutching the papers to his chest, Peters poked his face up on the opposite side of the desk. “Yes, Mr. Thornton!” he said, trying to sound confident. But it was hard to be confident when one was on one’s knees. Harder still when one wasn’t entirely certain which instructions of the morning went with which invitation or piece of correspondence.
Ian Thornton spent the rest of the afternoon closeted with Peters, heaping more dictation on the inundated clerk.
He spent the evening with the Earl of Melbourne, his future father-in-law, discussing the earl’s daughter and himself.
Peters spent part of his evening trying to learn from the butler which invitations his employer was likely to accept or reject.
”
”
Judith McNaught (Almost Heaven (Sequels, #3))
“
His smile becomes wider, and he takes a step closer, eyes me up and down, and then he whispers in my ear, his voice low and so sexy. "What if I tell you that I think you're pretty cute when you're flustered?"
Wait. Does he like me? I must be dreaming. I want to squeal, but instead, I blush and rely on humor to hide my true feelings. "I'm definitely going to have to talk to the owner about that one. We have policies in place regarding sexual harassment, you know."
"We could break them."
"What are you saying?"
"I think you had me that first day I walked into the kitchen. I've been dreaming about seeing you in those shorts again.
”
”
Samantha Verant (The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique)
“
I'll expect the amended spreadsheet by the end of the day."
Daisy pressed up against him, sliding her fingers through his damp hair. "How about we go to your place and amend it together? Our fake wedding day starts at midnight, and I want you naked in a bed that isn't broken to celebrate the end of the plan."
"Spreadsheet birthday sexy times." He gave a satisfied growl. "I'm in.
”
”
Sara Desai (The Dating Plan (Marriage Game, #2))
“
Your lady has a pitch to give, so how about you put the sword away and give her a kiss for luck?"
With a soft growl, Liam grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his chest, grinding his hips against her black suit skirt. "How about we exchange this sword for another?
”
”
Sara Desai (The Dating Plan (Marriage Game, #2))
“
Any ideas of how we can fill the time?" She lowered her lips to the straw in her smoothie, keeping her eyes locked on him as she sucked on the straw. Then her gaze flicked to his dick, which was... alert.
Holy sex eyes. Nina wasn't just flirting with him, she was laying it on thick as syrup.
”
”
Erin La Rosa (For Butter or Worse)
“
Have you ever found yourself flirting with sexual temptation through a long gaze or sexual fantasies?
”
”
Edward T. Welch (Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave)
“
I made to jump off the stone, but he gripped my chin, the movement too fast to detect. His words were a lethal caress as he said, 'Did you enjoy the sight of me kneeling before you?'
I knew he could hear my heart as it ratcheted into a thunderous beat. I gave him a hateful little smirk, anyway, yanking my chin out of his touch and leaping off the stone. I might have aimed for him feet. And he might have shifted out of the way just enough to avoid it. 'Isn't that all you males are good for, anyway?' But the words were tight, near breathless.
His answering smile evoked silken sheets and jasmine-scented breezes at midnight.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2))
“
I saw a pretty shop across the Sidra the other day. It sold what looked to be lots of lacy little things. Am I allowed to buy that on your credit, too, or does that come out of my personal funds?'
Those violet eyes again drifted to me. 'I'm not in the mood.'
There was no humour, no mischief. I could go warm myself by a fire inside, but...
He had stayed. And fought for me.
Week after week, he'd fought for me, even when I had no reaction, even when I had barely been able to speak or bring myself to care if I lived or died or ate or starved. I couldn't leave him to his own dark thoughts, his own guilt. He'd shouldered them alone long enough.
So I held his gaze. 'I never knew Illyrians were such morose drunks.'
'I'm not drunk- I'm drinking,' he said, his teeth flashing a bit.
'Again semantics,' I leaned back in my seat, wishing I'd brought my coat. 'Maybe you should have slept with Cresseida after all- so you could both be sad and lonely together.'
'So you're entitled to have as many bad days as you want, but I can't get a few hours?'
'Oh, take however long you want to mope. I was going to invite you to come shopping with me for said lacy little unmentionables, but... sit up here forever, if you have to.'
He didn't respond.
I went on, 'Maybe I'll send a few to Tarquin- with an offer to wear them for him if he forgives us. Maybe he'll take those blood rubies right back.'
His mouth barely, barely tugged up at the corners. 'He'd see that as a taunt.'
'I gave him a few smiles and he handed over a family heirloom. I bet he'd give me the keys to his territory if I showed up wearing those undergarments.'
'Someone thinks mighty highly of herself.'
'Why shouldn't I? You seem to have difficulty not staring at me day and night.'
There it was - a kernel of truth and a question.
'Am I supposed to deny,' he drawled, but something sparked in those eyes, 'That I find you attractive?'
'You've never said it.'
'I've told you many times, and quite frequently, how attractive I find you.'
I shrugged, even as I thought of all those times- when I'd dismissed them as teasing compliments, nothing more. 'Well, maybe you should do a better job of it.'
The gleam in his eyes turned into something predatory. A thrill went through me as he braced his powerful arms on the table and purred, 'Is that a challenge, Feyre?'
I held that predator's gaze- the gaze of the most powerful male in Prythian. 'Is it?'
His pupils flared. Gone was the quiet sadness, the isolated guilt. Only that lethal force- on me. On my mouth. On the bob of my throat as I tried to keep my breathing even. He said, slow and soft, 'Why don't we go down to that store right now, Feyre, so you can try on those lacy little things- so I can help you pick which ones to send to Tarquin.'
My toes curled inside my fleece-lined slippers. Such a dangerous line we walked together.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2))
“
I saw a pretty shop across the Sidra the other day. It sold what looked to be lots of lacy little things. Am I allowed to buy that on your credit, too, or does that come out of my personal funds?'
Those violet eyes again drifted to me. 'I'm not in the mood.'
There was no humour, no mischief. I could go warm myself by a fire inside, but...
He had stayed. And fought for me.
Week after week, he'd fought for me, even when I had no reaction, even when I had been been able to speak or bring myself to care if I lived or died or ate or starved. I couldn't leave him to his own dark thoughts, his own guilt. He'd shouldered them alone long enough.
So I held his gaze. 'I never knew Illyrians were such morose drunks.'
'I'm not drunk- I'm drinking,' he said, his teeth flashing a bit.
'Again semantics,' I leaned back in my seat, wishing I'd brought my coat. 'Maybe you should have slept with Cresseida after all- so you could both be sad and lonely together.'
'So you're entitled to have as many bad days as you want, but I can't get a few hours?'
'Oh, take however long you want to mope. I was going to invite you to come shopping with me for said lacy little unmentionables, but... sit up here forever, if you have to.'
He didn't respond.
I went on, 'Maybe I'll send a few to Tarquin- with an offer to wear them for him if he forgives us. Maybe he'll take those blood rubies right back.'
His mouth barely, barely tugged up at the corners. 'He'd see that as a taunt.'
'I gave him a few smiles and he handed over a family heirloom. I bet he'd give me the keys to his territory if I showed up wearing those undergarments.'
'Someone thinks mighty highly of herself.'
'Why shouldn't I? You seem to have difficulty not staring at me day and night.'
There it was - a kernel of truth and a question.
'Am I supposed to deny,' he drawled, but something sparked in those eyes, 'That I find you attractive?'
'You've never said it.'
'I've told you many times, and quite frequently, how attractive I find you.'
I shrugged, even as I thought of all those times- when I'd dismissed them as teasing compliments, nothing more. 'Well, maybe you should do a better job of it.'
The gleam in his eyes turned into something predatory. A thrill went through me as he braced his powerful arms on the table and purred, 'Is that a challenge, Feyre?'
I held that predator's gaze- the gaze of the most powerful male in Prythian. 'Is it?'
His pupils flared. Gone was the quiet sadness, the isolated guilt. Only that lethal force- on me. On my mouth. On the bob of my throat as I tried to keep my breathing even. He said, slow and soft, 'Why don't we go down to that store right now, Feyre, so you can try on those lacy little things- so I can help you pick which ones to send to Tarquin.'
My toes curled inside my fleece-lined slippers. Such a dangerous line we walked together.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2))
“
And then a masculine voice drawled virtually into her scalp, fluttering her hair and causing gooseflesh to sweep up her arms. "Do you think it's fair that you have seen every inch of me, and I have seen none of you?"
Oh no, oh no, oh no. Her heart had recovered. It was now drilling away inside her chest like a woodpecker.
The warmth of the man's body behind her was as penetrating as a sunbeam, though not one bit of him actually touched her---she pressed herself closer to the oak tree, to make bloody sure of that. But his scent immobilized her as surely as a net: sun-heated skin and the faintest tang of sweat, and something else, something rich and complicated and fundamental that started a primal buzz of recognition in her blood and made her peculiarly aware of how very female she happened to be.
This wasn't the groomed-for-a-ball brew of starch and soap with which she was familiar. This was stripped-to-the-essence male.
”
”
Julie Anne Long (Beauty and the Spy (Holt Sisters Trilogy #1))
“
Which side do you dress?" In tailor speak, it was a delicate way of asking which way his private parts hung--- to the left or right of his zipper. Some men thought we asked the question to put a little extra room on that side of their pants. In fact, we asked it before taking the inseam measurement because we didn't want to get too personal when working in that region. The few times I'd forgotten to ask, I'd had an unexpected surprise.
Something wicked flicked in his eyes. "I thought you'd know since we've already been intimately acquainted, or were you wiggling your ass against me in the bushes for another reason?"
"I wasn't thinking about pants at the time."
"Neither was I." He licked his lips, his devilish grin drawing laughter up my throat.
"Behave," I said, although I knew I'd be disappointed if he did. "Right or left?"
"I don't give out that kind of information until we've had at least one kiss.
”
”
Sara Desai (To Have and to Heist)
“
People with wombs have always known that bodies and consciousness are cyclical, tied to a rhythm that is larger than the individual. The cycle is twenty-eight days, full moon to full moon. Moon sounds like a name or a noun. But let us remember that moon is a gerund. Always moving. Always moon-ing. It is time to give the masculine back its lunar knowledge. Wombs swell, yearn, mulch, and release in twenty-eight days. But a womb is not just an organ. It is an invitation that anyone of any physicality and any gender expression can accept. It is an invitation to dance inside change for twenty-eight days. To practice softness for a cycle. The masculine has a womb, too. A moon. All it need do is look up at the night sky. What is lunar wisdom? Even on a new moon night, the moon is still present: replete and whole, while also void and occluded. This is a completion that holds loss tenderly inside its body. It is neatly summed up by Octavia Butler’s powerful words: “God is change.”1 The moon is every gender, every sexuality, mostly both, always trans: waxing and waning. The moon only ever flirts with fullness or emptiness for a brief, tenuous moment before slipping into change. Here is our blended, androgynous Dionysus. Wine-drunk, love-swollen, wind-swept, in ecstatic union with the holy, the moon encourages us to dissolve our edges rather than affirm them. Lunar knowledge keeps us limber. Keeps us resilient. Awe, whether somatic or spiritual, transforms us. The alternative to patriarchy and sky gods is not equal and opposite. It is not a patriarchy with a woman seated on a throne. The Sacred Masculine isn’t a horned warrior bowing down to his impassive empress. The divine, although it includes us, is mostly inhuman. Mutable. Mostly green. Often microscopic. And it is everything in between. Interstitial and relational. The light and the dark. Moonlight on moving water. The lunar bowl where we all mix and love and change.
”
”
Sophie Strand (The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine)
“
You have five minutes until we leave.'
Nesta managed to step away. 'You're a brute.'
He winked. 'Born and raised.'
...
'Don't ever put your hands on me again.'
'Noted.' His eyes still blazed.
Her fingers curled once more. She selected her next words like throwing knives. 'If you think this training nonsense is going to result in your climbing into my bed, you're delusional.' She added with a slice of a smile. 'I'd rather let in a mangy street dog.'
'Oh, it's not going to result in me climbing into your bed.'
Nesta snickered, victory achieved, and had reached the stairs when he crooned, 'You'll climb into mine.'
She whirled toward him, foot still suspended midair. 'I'd rather not.'
Cassian threw her a mocking smile. 'We'll see.'
She fumbled for more of those sharp-edged words, for a sneer or a snarl, or anything, but his smile grew. 'You have three minutes to get ready now.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4))
“
Because of my attraction to Cecelia, my sexual imagination has gone into overdrive. She’s been more than a willing volunteer for every experiment, not one of them going awry. I’ve tormented her with hours of foreplay, edging her, watching her beg, only to come back asking for more—nothing vanilla about it. I don’t consider myself a man of kink, but a man with a sexual appetite who flirts on the edge of it. She flirts right back with me, and it pays off for us every fucking time.
”
”
Kate Stewart (One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince (Ravenhood Legacy, #1))
“
How romantic and dreamy.” My mistress sighed. “I should make someone pick a lover’s quarrel with me.”
“I could do it.” The jest slipped out, my brain catching up seconds later to what my mouth had just said.
“Would you, really?” Viola asked quietly.
The mood shifted, the light, playful air between us dissolving.
”
”
Anita Zara (The Maid's Secret)
“
Did you know,” she said, “they say the colour of a lady’s lips is an exact match to another region on the body?” Her gaze drifted below her water-covered stomach.
My face grew hot. The burning need to say something, anything, scorched my tongue.
”
”
Anita Zara (The Maid's Secret)
“
Her outstretched fingers scraped down his side and sank inside his jeans. Her thumb hooked a belt loop. The force of her grip drew down the waistband by several inches. Her fingertips grazed the muscular curve of his hip. A commando-bare hip. His body heat stroked between her fingers, crept over her hand, and skittered up her arm. Her breasts tingled. She wished the sidewalk would open up and swallow her whole. Her wish was denied.
Jake turned with a slowness that further unnerved her. He flexed his butt cheek and his voice was deep-husky when he asked, "What's up, Peep? Are you scratching my back, picking my pocket, or getting in my pants?
”
”
Kate Angell (The Café Between Pumpkin and Pie (Moonbright, Maine #3))
“
Steep steps, and the sway of her skirt couldn't be contained. Instead of side to side, it flounced front to back, flashing Jake from behind. She cringed.
He chuckled, deep and admiring. "Sexy thigh-highs. Those blue bows along the seams do it for me."
His compliment sent heat up and between her legs. Her composure slipped. The hoop skirt would be the death of her. She would never wear one again. Sheer will pushed her up the remainder of the stairs. Once on the landing, she struggled to turn and face him. The light overhead flickered and dimmed, needing a bulb replaced. Jake's face was shadowy, but she could make out his expression, equally intense and indulgent.
She would have immediately taken to her room, but his gaze detained her. All dark heat and sinful appreciation. His face was hard cut. His mouth curved, wicked by design. Tension stretched between them. Nerves overcame her. She felt inept with this man.
”
”
Kate Angell (The Café Between Pumpkin and Pie (Moonbright, Maine #3))
“
He stared at her now with an intensity that seemed to unsettle her. She accidentally frosted her chin. She grabbed a handful of napkins, dabbed at the smeared buttercream. "Look what you made me do," she accused him.
His tongue pressed against his teeth. He felt a craving to lick the frosting from her lips. To nibble on her chin. To fully taste her. An urge he tamped down. "How's missing your mouth my fault?" he asked, amused.
"You were staring at me."
"Did I make you nervous?"
"You looked... hungry."
"I'm quite full, actually." Hannah was inexperienced. She was unaware that his hunger hadn't been for the cake; it had been for her.
”
”
Kate Angell (The Café Between Pumpkin and Pie (Moonbright, Maine #3))
“
You took something Gabe, I dunno what it was but you were fucked, beyond fucked. You could barely move, kept stroking my face and fucking flirting with me. I swear if I wasn’t already in therapy I’d need it, just to discuss the fact that my own brother kept making sexual comments towards me.
”
”
C.B Halliwell (Gabriel's Sacrifice : book 2 in the Fire and Ice series)
“
I meant what I said about seeing you."
"Look your fill." She spread her arms and faced him with reckless confidence, goose bumps and all, even though she knew he'd dated women far more beautiful than she. Pictures of his glossy public life sometimes ran in the "Evening Hours" column of the Times. He always favored a "type." Patrician, fair and WASPy, his dates were as tall and thin as uncooked spaghetti.
Judging by the expression on his face now, Rosa suspected he might be willing to keep an open mind about his type. His eyes didn't just look, they touched. She felt a swift phantom caress on her lips, her throat, her breasts, as his gaze slipped over her.
”
”
Susan Wiggs (Summer by the Sea)
“
To lovers out there ...
Never share your sexual pleasures or bedroom activities with friends about your partner, unless you are seeking help on how to improve, spice up things or to make it better, but If you are doing it as performance appraisal. Remember Not all of them will be happy for you. Some will want to experience that for themselves. For them to do that . It means they need your partner . Some people will go for your partner , not because they love them, but it is because of how they treat you.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
But she did have a sulky bursting prowling sort of energy, because she was in that state so many young girls go through―a state of sexual obsession that can be like a sort of trance. When I was fifteen, still living in Baker Street with my father, I spent some months in that state, so that now I can't walk through that area without remembering, half amused, half embarrassed, an emotional condition which was so strong it had the power to absorb into it pavements, houses, shop windows. What was interesting about June was this: surely nature should have arranged matters so that the men she met must be aware of what afflicted her. Not at all. That first evening Maryrose and I involuntarily exchanged glances and nearly laughed out loud from recognition and amused pity. We did not, because we also understood that the so obvious fact was not obvious to the men and we wanted to protect her from their laughter. All the women in the place were aware of June. I remember sitting one morning on the verandah with Mrs. Lattimer, the pretty red-haired woman who flirted with young Stanley Lett, and June came into sight prowling blindly under the gum-trees by the railway lines. It was like watching a sleepwalker. She would take half a dozen steps, staring across the valley at the piled blue mountains, lift her hands to her hair, so that her body, tightly outlined in bright red cotton, showed every straining line and the sweat patches dark under the armpits―then drop her arms, her fists clenched at her sides. She would stand motionless, then walk on again, pause, seem to dream, kick at the cinders with the toe of high white sandal, and so on, slowly, till she was out of sight beyond the sun-glittering gum-trees. Mrs. Lattimore let out a deep rich sigh, laughed her weak indulgent laugh, and said: 'My God, I wouldn't be a girl again for a million pounds. My God, to go through all that again, not for a million million.' And Maryrose and I agreed. Yet, although to us every appearance of this girl was so powerfully embarrassing, the men did not see it and we took care not to betray her. There is a female chivalry, woman for woman, as strong as any other kind of loyalty. Or perhaps it was we didn't want brought home to us the deficiencies of imagination of our own men.
”
”
Doris Lessing (The Golden Notebook)
“
Feminists don’t single out rape jokes because rape is “worse” than other crimes—we single them out because we live in a culture that actively strives to shrink the definition of sexual assault; that casts stalking behaviors as romance; blames victims for wearing the wrong clothes, walking through the wrong neighborhood, or flirting with the wrong person; bends over backwards to excuse boys-will-be-boys misogyny; makes the emotional and social costs of reporting a rape prohibitively high; pretends that false accusations are a more dire problem than actual assaults; elects officials who tell rape victims that their sexual violation was “god’s plan”; and convicts in less than 5 percent of rape cases that go to trial. Comedians regularly retort that no one complains when they joke about murder or other crimes in their acts, citing that as a double standard. Well, fortunately, there is no cultural narrative casting doubt on the existence and prevalence of murder and pressuring people not to report it. Maybe
”
”
Lindy West (Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman)
“
Typically only the incivility of the less powerful toward the more powerful can be widely understood as such, and thus be subject to such intense censure. Which is what made #metoo so fraught and revolutionary. It was a period during which some of the most powerful faced repercussion. The experience of having patriarchal control compromised felt, perhaps ironically, like a violation, a diminishment, a threat to professional standing—all the things that sexual harassment feels like to those who’ve experienced it. Frequently, in those months, I was asked about how to address men’s confusion and again, their discomfort: How were they supposed to flirt? What if their respectful and professional gestures of affiliation had been misunderstood? Mothers told me of sons worried about being misinterpreted, that expression of their affections might be heard as coercion, their words or intentions read incorrectly, that they would face unjust consequences that would damage their prospects. The amazing thing was the lack of acknowledgment that these anxieties are the normal state for just about everyone who is not a white man: that black mothers reasonably worry every day that a toy or a phone or a pack of Skittles might be seen as a gun, that their children’s very presence—sleeping in a dorm room, sitting at a Starbucks, barbecuing by a river, selling lemonade on the street—might be understood as a threat, and that the repercussions might extend far beyond a dismissal from a high-paying job or expulsion from a high-profile university, and instead might result in arrest, imprisonment, or execution at the hands of police or a concerned neighbor. Women enter young adulthood constantly aware that their inebriation might be taken for consent, or their consent for sluttiness, or that an understanding of them as having been either drunk or slutty might one day undercut any claim they might make about having been violently aggressed upon. Women enter the workforce understanding from the start the need to work around and accommodate the leering advances and bad jokes of their colleagues, aware that the wrong response might change the course of their professional lives. We had been told that our failures to extend sympathy to the white working class—their well-being diminished by unemployment and drug addictions—had cost us an election; now we were being told that a failure to feel for the men whose lives were being ruined by harassment charges would provoke an angry antifeminist backlash. But with these calls came no acknowledgment of sympathies that we have never before been asked to extend: to black men who have always lived with higher rates of unemployment and who have faced systemically higher prison sentences and social disapprobation for their drug use; to the women whose careers and lives had been ruined by ubiquitous and often violent harassment. Now the call was to consider the underlying pain of those facing repercussions. Rose McGowan, one of Weinstein’s earliest and most vociferous accusers, recalled being asked “in a soft NPR voice, ‘What if what you’re saying makes men uncomfortable?’ Good. I’ve been uncomfortable my whole life. Welcome to our world of discomfort.”34 Suddenly, men were living with the fear of consequences, and it turned out that it was not fun. And they very badly wanted it to stop. One of the lessons many men would take from #metoo was not about the threat they had posed to women, but about the threat that women pose to them.
”
”
Rebecca Traister (Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger)
“
I want you inside me, like a psychopath venting out his irritation. That's the type of attention I am seeking. Now, it is evident that your testosterone will open in question, a very sexual image. And thats ok. Nevertheless. I don't speak of sex, but about the dessert.
”
”
Efrat Cybulkiewicz
“
I want you inside me, like a psychopath venting out his irritation. That's the type of attention I am seeking. Now, it is evident that your testosterone will open in question to a very sexual image. And that's ok. Nevertheless. I don't speak of sex, but about the dessert; the real aftermath.
”
”
Efrat Cybulkiewicz
“
I want you inside me, like a psychopath venting out his irritation. That's the type of attention I am seeking. Now, it is evident that your testosterone will open in question to a very sexual image. And that's ok. Nevertheless. I don't speak of sex, but the real aftermath.
”
”
Efrat Cybulkiewicz
“
But wait – why should you communicate with sexual intent? -It destroys any chance of you being in the friendzone -It communicates that you’re a sexual guy who goes for what he wants -It’s the foundation of building sexual attraction -Women will be a lot more likely to see you again -It sexually charges your conversations
”
”
Dave Perrotta (Conversation Casanova: How to Effortlessly Start Conversations and Flirt Like a Pro)
“
What are you passionate about? 2) What do you find sexiest in a guy? 3) What’s your dream job? 4) What’s one thing I wouldn’t guess about you? 5) If you could wake up anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would it be? 6) What kind of things make you laugh the hardest? 7) What was your last big adventure? 8) What’s something you’ve always wanted to do? 9) What do you absolutely love to do? 10) Would you consider yourself a sexual person? 11) Have you ever had sex in a public place? 12) What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to? 13) If your apartment were on fire, what 2 things would you save? 14) What kind of music do you listen to? 15) If you could go back to one time period in history, what would it be? 16) Do you cook? What’s your favorite meal? 17) What brought you to this city? 18) How did you get into what you’re doing now? 19) What’s your favorite movie of all time? 20) What’s your favorite book of all time?
”
”
Dave Perrotta (Conversation Casanova: How to Effortlessly Start Conversations and Flirt Like a Pro)
“
Cleaver came across a picture of the white woman that Till had flirted with in a magazine and found her attractive. He saw himself in Till’s shoes, and it distressed him. “It intensified my frustrations,” Cleaver later explained, “to know that I was indoctrinated to see the white woman as more beautiful and desirable than my own black woman.” Cleaver’s emotional turmoil about his attraction to white women was not unusual. While white men often took liberties with black women, a black man who flirted even mildly with a white woman was considered to be making the gravest violation of white supremacy, one that was all too often punished by death. In this context, it is not surprising that many black men associated a sexual desire for white women with a desire to be recognized as human and free.
”
”
Joshua Bloom (Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party (The George Gund Foundation Imprint in African American Studies))
“
Stop raping me with your eyes!
”
”
Ramana Pemmaraju