Attraction Quotes

“I know why you said you don't see a future for us.' My heart races like it's trying to take flight as I blurt out the words.

'Do you?' Of course he isn't going to make this easy. I'm not sure the man even knows what easy is.

'You want me,' I say, looking him in the eyes. 'And no, I'm not just talking about in bed. You. Want. Me, Xaden Riorson. You might not say it, but you do one better and show it. You show it every time you choose to trust me, every time your eyes linger on mine. You show it with every sparring lesson you don't have time for and every flight lesson that pulls you away from your own studies. You show it when you refuse to touch me because you're worried I don't really want you, then show it again when you take the time to hunt down violets before a leadership meeting so I don't wake up feeling alone. You show it in a million different ways. Please don't deny it.'

His jaw flexes, but he doesn't deny it.

'You think we don't have a future because you're scared that I won't like who you really are behind all those walls you keep. And I@m scared, too. I can admit it. You're graduating. I'm not. You'll be gone in a matter of weeks, and we're probably setting ourselves up for heartbreak. But if we let fear kill whatever this is between us, then we don't deserve it.' I lift one hand to the back of his neck. 'I told you that I was the one who would decide when I'm ready to risk my heart, and I'm saying it.'

The way he looks at me, with the same mix of hope and apprehension currently flooding my system, gives me absolute life.

'You don't mean that,' he says, shaking his head.

And there he goes, sucking the life right out again.

'I mean it.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Fuck me, this hair,' he says, then hovers his mouth over mine. 'And this mouth. All I ever want to do is kiss you, even when you piss me off.'

'So kiss me.' I arch into him and claim his lips, kissing him like this might be the only time I'll get the chance.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“There's only you, Violence. Is that what you needed to hear?'

I nod.

'Even when I'm not with you, there's only you. Next time just ask. You've never had a problem being bluntly honest with me.' Wind blows around us, but he's as immovable as the parapet itself. 'As I remember, you've even thrown daggers at my head, which I greatly prefer over watching you get tangled up in your thoughts. If you're going to do this, then we have to trust each other.'

'And you want to do this?' I hold my breath.

He sighs, long and hard, then admits, 'Yes.' His hands slides up and caresses my cheek with his thumb. 'I can't make you any promises, Violence. But I'm tired of fighting it.'

'Yes.' One word has never meant so much to me.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Seriously, I can't think when you look at me like that.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“His allure is a warning not to get too close, and I am definitely too close.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Fuck, I'm never going to get enough of you, am I?”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“So fucking beautiful.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Occasionally, I convinced myself I had made it all up — love, attraction, all of it — that I had made it up with everyone I'd ever met.”
― Julia Armfield, Salt Slow

“You said not to fall for you. Did you change your mind?'

'Absolutely not.' His jaw tenses.

'Right.' I don't expect that to hurt as much as it does, which is part of the problem. I'm already too emotionally involved to separate out the sex, no matter how phenomenal it is. 'Here's the thing. I don't think I can separate sex from emotion when it comes to you.' Well, shit, now I've said it. 'We're already too close for that, and if we hook up again, I'm going to eventually fall for you.' My heart pounds at the rushed confession, waiting for his response.

'You won't.' Something akin to panic flares in his eyes, and he crosses his arms. I swear I can actually see the man building his defenses against his own feelings. 'You don't really know me. Not at my core.'

And whose fault is that?

'I know enough,' I argue softly. 'And we'd have all the time in the world to figure it out if you'd stop acting like such an emotional chickenshit and just admit that you're going to fall for me, too, if we keep this up.' There's no way he would have designed that saddle, spent all that time training me to fight and fly, if he didn't feel something. He's going to have to fight for this, too, or it will never work.

'I have absolutely no intention of falling for you, Sorrengail.' His eyes narrow and he enunciates every word, like I could possibly take that any other way.

Fuck. That. He let me in. He told me about his scars. He had an arsenal crafted for me. He cares. He's just as wrapped up in this as I am, even if he's shitty at showing it.

'Ouch,' I wince. 'Well, it's apparent that you're not ready to admit where this is going. So yeah, I think it's best we agree that this was just a onetime thing.' I force my shoulders to shrug. 'We both needed to blow off some steam, and we did, right?'

'Right,' he agrees, apprehension lining his forehead.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“She could imagine how it would be. That was the worst part. The suggestive taunts that made her feel clumsy and hyper-vigilant, the soft touches that could spring like a trap—they painted a very vivid picture of what it would be like to fuck him, yes. He would not be nice or gentle, but he would be good, and he would gore her heart like any other trophy in this place just as soon as he was done playing with it.”
― Nenia Campbell, Raise the Blood

“I can always tell an intelligent man is attracted to me in the ways that he attempts to dominate over me with his intellect. I can always spot a wiser man when he doesn't.”
― Echo Kind

“You're a delightful conversationalist, you let ladies lure you to operas, and you're good with your hands. What's not to like?”
― Nicole Jarvis, The Lights of Prague

“Silence is part of the equation and not the final answer in achieving practical wisdom.”
― Mwanandeke Kindembo

“Insanity does not take credit for responsibility.”
― Mwanandeke Kindembo

“More beauty implies more romantic desirability, but not necessarily more SUBSTANCE. What determines more substance is how devoted you are to the growth and expansion of your sensuality.”
― Lebo Grand

“He suspected Susannah Makepeace might even become truly interesting... given a little encouragement.
She was pretty. Not in the usual way, the way the Carstairs sisters were pretty, the sort of beauty that would become distinct with age. But... well, Miss Makepeace's eyes seemed filled with colors, and with a spy's impulse toward investigation, he had an urge to get a look at them in the full light so he could see how many and which ones. And her mouth... it was plush, her mouth. Pink as the inside of a seashell.
The softest, softest shade of pink imaginable.”
― Julie Anne Long, Beauty and the Spy

“He watched her sleep with some complex emotion; it seemed to have tiers and facets, and the moment he managed to get one facet in focus, another one winked into prominence. He'd begun to suspect he was a romantic, despite everything, and the thought irritated him and amused him. It was a tremendously inconvenient thing to be, and not at all what one expected to find lurking in the heart of a spy.
Today... how easy it would have been to slide a hand over the small of her back, pull her forward into his bare chest, and touch his lips at last, at last, to that soft, soft mouth. He was, in fact, dangerously close to needing to know how her mouth would feel against his. He'd watched the pulse beating in her smooth throat, and for an extraordinary moment he'd had every intention of pressing his mouth against it... after he'd tasted her lips, of course.”
― Julie Anne Long, Beauty and the Spy

“You don’t have five but seven elements in your body. Along with air, sky, water, fire and soil; you have soul and emotions. You have all metals in you from iron to zinc to copper to whatnot. You have vision and senses. You have powers of attraction, static charge, and magnetic fields. You have atoms in you.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, Smiling Brahma

“I can always tell an intelligent man is attracted to me in the ways that he attempts to dominate over me with his intelligect.  I can always spot a wiser man when he doesn't.”
― Echo Kind

“An Unrequited Vision by Stewart Stafford

Though the sheen of infatuation,
Deflects the glare of humanity,
I must bathe naked in my flaws
To peel your blinding cataracts.

This intrusion is not a sweet union,
'Tis a hand plucking a stringless harp,
A looking glass without reflection,
A mirage of the shimmering sun.

Affection's look clouds with malice,
Eyes flit to the blade to save face,
Stay that rash hand of vengeance,
Allow a beauteous refill of your gaze.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Are you and him...'

'Nah,' said Collins, and glanced at her sidelong. 'I, um, I prefer... long hair.”
― Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe

“During the period of her adolescence, her burgeoning womanhood, high school and throughout college, her awareness of the other sex had been an involuntary thing that crept up on her unasked for and unwanted. She would come into contact with these guys, or boys really, who she really didn’t even like all that much. She could discern the weakness in their characters in a heartbeat, see into the core of their insecurities with ease. Figure out what they were hungry for in life and discern their superficialities. And yet it was these guys who would make her palms moist with sweat when they approached, whose presence sucked the air out of her chest, whose off hand comments to her made her speechless and inarticulate. Not the top-of-the-class guy with his subtle opinions and depth of character, but the attractive, muscular idiot.”
― Hannah Matus, A Second Look

“You're so incredibly violent.' He paused. 'I think I like it.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash

“Many long-term relationships begin with a physical attraction that evolves into a state of mutual appreciation; it’s not impossible to imagine that process happening in reverse.”
― Chuck Klosterman

“Dani glanced up from her phone and froze. Her eyes swept him from head to toe and her lips parted. Pleasure at her obvious approval warmed his chest. She nodded, setting the device down on the cushion next to her before standing. "Most definitely.”
― Tracey Livesay, The Duchess Effect

“La adoración congela en oro al sentido común. Lo malo de la atracción sexual cuando es tan fuerte es que nubla mucho, y al no haber luz no se ven los precipicios".”
― Andrés Asevís, Cosa negra

“Why would you say that?'

'Are you seriously asking me that?'

Yes I am. It doesn't make sense.'

'You don't make sense.'

I hit his shoulder- or chest. Some extremely hard part of him.

Hawke grunted. 'Ouch.'

I so did not hit him hard enough for that. 'You're fine.'

'I'm bruised.'

'You're ridiculous,' I retorted. 'And it's you who makes no sense.'

'I'm the one sitting here being honest. You're the one hitting me. How do I not make sense?'

'Because this whole thing makes no sense.' Frustration rose swiftly through me, and I started to stand, but the hand on my hip stopped me. Or I let it stop me. I wasn't sure. And that was even more irritating. 'You could be spending time with anyone, Hawke- any number of people you wouldn't have to hide in a willow tree to be with.'

'And yet, I'm here with you. And before you even begin to think it's because of my duty to you, it's not. I could've just walked you back to your room and stayed out in the hall.'

'That's my point. It makes no sense. You can have a slew of willing participants in... whatever this is. It would be easy,' I said. Pretty Britta came to mind. I was sure he'd had her. 'You can't have me. I'm... I'm un-have-able.'

'I'm confident that's not even a word.'

'That's not the point. I'm not allowed to do this. Any of this. I shouldn't have done what I did at the Red Pearl,' I continued. 'It doesn't matter if I want.'

'And you do want.' His whisper danced over my cheek. 'What you want is me.'

My breath caught. 'That doesn't matter.'

'What you want should always matter.'

A short, harsh laugh left me. 'It doesn't, and that's another thing that isn't the point. You could-'

'I heard you the first time, Princess. You're right. I could find someone who would be easier.' His fingers traced the line of my mask from my right ear and along my cheek. I had no idea how he could see. 'Ladies or Lords in Wait, who aren't burdened by rules or limitations, who aren't Maidens I'm sworn to protect. There are a lot of ways I could occupy my time that don't include explaining in great detail why I'm choosing to be where I am, with whom I choose.'

The corners of my lips started to turn down.

'The thing is,' he went on, 'none of them intrigue me. You do.' You intrigue me.

'It's really that simple for you?' I asked, wanting to believe him, and also not.

His forehead rested against mine, startling me. 'Nothing is ever simple. And when it is, it's rarely ever worth it.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash

“Poppy.

'That's the third time you've called me that,' I said.

'Fourth,' he corrected, and I blinked. 'We're friends, aren't we? Only your friends and your brother call you that, and you may be the Maiden, and I'm a Royal Guard, but all things considered, I would hope that you and I are friends.'

'We are.' And we were.

His hand flattened against my cheek, and a sigh shuddered through him. 'And I'm not... I'm not being a good friend or guard right now. I'm not...' His hand slid, and his fingers curled around the nape of my neck for a few seconds before he slipped his hand away. 'I really should get you back to your room. It's getting late.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash

“You shouldn't look at me like that.' His voice had thickened.

'Like what?'

'You know exactly how you're looking at me.' He closed his eyes. 'Actually, you might not, and that's why I should leave.'

'How am I looking at you, Hawke?'

His eyes opened. 'Like I don't deserve to be looked at. Not by you.'

'Not true,' I told him.

'I wish that was the case. Gods, I do. I need to leave.' He rose and backed up, his stare lingering. I didn't think he wanted to leave at all. He took a deep breath. 'Goodnight, Poppy.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash

“We tend to focus overly on the externals: a certain sort of room, particular kinds of clothes, a certain level of hormones... But the most important ingredient in encouraging us to take off our clothes and present ourselves without inhibition or fear is - in the end - trust. Trust that a partner has our best interests at heart, that we aren't ever going to be mocked, that there is loyalty and long-term concern at play, that we are with someone who can be delicate with our feelings. Sex itself may be rough and powerful; the feelings behind sex must be anything but”
― The School of Life, How Ready Are You For Love?: A path to more fulfilling and joyful relationships