Skip to content

Desire

Desire is not a synonym for sex and it is not a synonym for wanting. It is the body's motivated lean toward intimacy, beauty, or more contact — the architecture of being-pulled. Vela holds the erotic register at the center but does not collapse the social, the cognitive, and the devotional registers into it: the corpus reads desire across all four, and the texture is in the difference.

Working definition · Motivated pull toward intimacy, beauty, or more contact—not mere preference.

6874 passages · 2 Vela essays

Vela’s read on this emotion

Desire is one of the emotions Vela reads most carefully, because the English word covers too much ground to leave undifferentiated. Four registers run inside it.

The erotic register is the most familiar. Vela reads it through Carmen Maria Machado, Garth Greenwell, Sappho's surviving fragments, and Audre Lorde's essay *Uses of the Erotic* — writers who treat erotic desire as serious subject matter rather than ornament. The social register — the desire to belong, to be seen correctly, to matter to a community — runs through memoir and through the literature of exile. The cognitive register — desire for the right word, for understanding, for mastery — surfaces in Plato's *Symposium* and in Augustine of Hippo's *Confessions*, where desire is examined as a form of motion of the soul. The devotional register — desire for God, or for the absolute — runs through the *Song of Songs*, Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross, and the broader mystical tradition.

Desire is not the same as yearning, longing, or love. Yearning is desire facing what it may not reach. Longing is yearning settled into chronicity. Love is the sustained orientation that survives desire's exhaustion. The four words are kin; Vela reads them separately because the writers who have been most honest about each have kept them separate.

*On Desire* — the slower companion essay in the magazine — walks the four registers and makes the case for not collapsing them.

Study and magazine

Long-form guide in the magazine

*On Desire* — the four-register reading. Desire as architecture, not virtue: how the word holds erotic, social, cognitive, and devotional registers at once, and what the writers keep saying when the four are not collapsed.

Read the guide

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 230 of 344 · 20 per page

6874 tagged passages

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    Yet, far from being tired or disinterested, Justin immediately deposited her, with a meaningful wink, right in the middle of the four-poster bed. Then he stretched out beside her, pulling her close. “I’ve been looking forward to this part of the ceremony all day.” “Are you sure you don’t want to turn in early? We have the rest of our lives to perform our marital duty.” “Hell, no, not when you made me hold off for a whole week,” he blurted out, then remembered his manners. “Sorry, sweetie, I know you didn’t sleep so well last night. If you want to go to bed early, it’s okay with me,” he lied politely. Although she’d hardly slept, eaten, or drunk anything in the past twenty-four hours, Sophie’s body was tingling with a strange excitement. “Well, we’re supposed to consummate the marriage as quickly as possible—to make it legal.” Justin frowned. “Speaking of the proper formalities, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Sophie’s pulse leaped. The ink on the marriage license was barely dry and things were going sour already. “What is it, honey?” “I was looking at that checklist from your bride guide this morning, and it said I was supposed to buy you a wedding gift. Pearls or something. I didn’t get anything, but if there’s something you want…” “I didn’t get you anything either. They recommended cufflinks or a watch for you. Very 1950s.” She turned and cupped her hand around the erection tenting his khakis. “But this is something I wouldn’t mind getting all wrapped up with a bow.” “It’s all yours. If I can have this.” He slipped his hand under her going-away skirt and patted her mons. “I promise I’ll take very good care of it.” She laughed. “It’s a deal.” Justin’s fingers began to stroke her through her panties. “Of course, in the old days, you would have owned me,” she murmured, her legs falling open. “And I’d have come to you a virgin. This would be the very first time we did anything but hold hands.” “If this were the first time I was touching you, I’d probably come in my pants just doing this,” Justin said softly. With his free hand, he reached over and began unbuttoning her blouse. “But you wouldn’t be a virgin. Your uncle would have taken you to a house of ill repute to break you in. So you could break me in.” “I didn’t know you were such an old-fashioned girl at heart.” Justin finished with the buttons and eased the blouse over her shoulders. Was she imagining a new possessiveness in his touch? “I’m glad I’m not a virgin,” she continued, “but there’s still something sexy about having your wedding night be the first time.” He hooked a hand around her bare shoulder and pulled her body toward him, coaxing her to straddle his belly.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    I gave a moan when he rubbed his tongue harder over the swollen knot, burgeoning at the top of my folds and held still while he laved it over and over again. “God, Danny, that’s good.” “Like it?” “Oh, yeah.” He gave my sex a loud smacking kiss, slapped my ass, and pushed me down his body. I heard a tear, the slick snap of latex, and then he rolled, fitting me under him and thrusting his arms beneath my knees to lift my ass. “Put me inside you.” Both hands gripped his shaft, and he rocked forward. I aimed him right at my entrance, felt the nudge of his broad, round cap, and let go, bracing a hand against the wall and clutching the notch of his hip with the other as he entered me. He was large. Perfect. Pushing gently upward, crowding through wet, swollen tissue that hadn’t felt the stretch of a cock in good long time. Air hissed between my teeth, and I turned away my face. “No,” he said softly. “You wanted this. You have to watch.” He reached and hit a light switch. The overhead glared down, exposing us both to the harsh, bright light. I covered my breasts but couldn’t help looking down to where our bodies joined. He pulsed inward, halted, and then pulled out. His shaft glistened with my juices. He slid his fingers around the base of his cock and squeezed. “Keep lookin’ at me like that and I’ll blow.” A smile tugged at the corners of my lips, and I knew I must have looked like the kitten licking up all the cream. I was the one who had his body so tight and hard that his belly shivered. “Angela,” he ground out. “Fuck.” He released his grip, angled his cock just right, and slammed up my pussy. My mouth opened and a long, thin groan joined the nasty sounds echoing around the cab. Juicy slaps. Soft, masculine grunts. Short, metallic creaks. Coming faster as he pounded toward my core. Release, when it came, roared through me. Toes curling, I snapped open my legs as wide as they could go, arched my back and sank my nails into his backside, trying to hold onto the moment because it was so damn perfect. When my peak began to wane, he jerked, stroking in short, sharp bursts. Then he dug deeper at the last moment. His head fell back, his mouth opening around a loud, aching groan. The sight of him, all primal male, chest and belly quivering, his cock still lodged deep inside me, was oh so gratifying. At last, he gave a deep sigh and collapsed over me, my legs still wedged high, trapping his arms in the bend of my knee. I couldn’t help it.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    I could barely stand it, but I did. His green eyes shone back at me, intense and sparkling. “Blake, please, I need you.” He kissed me, hard and probing, all his energy filling me. Without missing a beat, his face dropped down, sweeping kisses over my quivering hips, down to my open thighs. I felt his breath between my legs, his fingers caressing my lips, sweeping over me. He was just looking at me, taking me in while I was writhing, waiting for his mouth to touch me. I felt the tip of his tongue gently touch my clit, and I felt like my mind was going to come apart. His gentle sweeping strokes covered my pussy, teasing me until I was shaking and clawing at the sheets. The long fingers that I had fallen in love with so long ago were finally touching me, spreading me open, filling my tight pussy, pleasing me. The sensation was so intense, I didn’t know if I could handle much more. He kept slowly teasing me, tasting me, urging my desire forward, pushing me closer to the edge. His fingertip swirled the smallest circles over my clit. I gasped at his masterful touch, the pressure just enough to thrill me but not enough to make me come. His finger slid inside me, my walls gripping him, pulling him deeper into me. “God, I’ve missed you like this, Daisy. So much.” He stopped talking and went back to using all his weapons against me. I had taken as much as I could, and I wanted to give him something in return. I grabbed at him, pulling him up my body until we were again face to face. His kiss tasted like me, his lips hot with my wet pussy. It was amazing. “Me too, Blake. Me too.” I rolled him on to his back and straddled him quickly. I ran my hands over his chest, feeling every inch of tight muscle and the light smattering of hair that covered his chest. I ran my thumbs over his tight little nipples, smirking at the hitch it caused in his breath. I leaned down and kissed his chest, smelling him, tasting him with my tongue. Licking tiny flicks over his nipple, I grabbed it lightly with my teeth, and he put a hand to my head. I went about torturing his nipples a little longer, letting his moans make me even hotter. His flat stomach beckoned me, and I let myself slide down his body. Kissing his navel, I felt his hard cock resting right between my tits. I let it drag over my soft skin, feeling it pulse and shake at the contact. It jerked forward, trying to get my attention. I smiled up at him, his eyes glassy and fuzzy with need.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    Her husband pulled the honey jar from her. Kim watched as he lifted the drizzler out slowly, his eyes on the golden liquid as it spiraled back into the pool in the jar. He motioned with his head for her to come closer. Kim started to question, but before she could speak he closed the distance between them himself and untied her robe so swiftly it fell to the ground before she could grab it. He flicked the burner off behind her as he nudged her back against the counter and lifted the honey drizzler to her neck. Kim started to protest as the amber liquid began to drip, but she froze as it touched her skin. She squirmed as a drop fell to the floor, but Terry pushed on her shoulder, holding her against the counter. She started to speak again, and the words dissipated as he pressed his mouth to the honey flowing over her clavicle. His warm tongue swept over her skin as he claimed the sweet liquid from it. “Terry,” Kim managed to admonish when he pulled away. She gasped as honey landed on her breast—she hadn’t noticed his hand moving back to the jar. As she watched, openmouthed, Terry glided the dipper several inches above her chest, drizzling honey in a horizontal line across her breasts. The sticky liquid began to descend, creeping toward her nipples. Kim opened her mouth to object as Terry dipped his head and caught a nipple between his teeth just as it was engulfed. Her breath caught in her throat, and she remained silent as he grasped her breast from underneath, his tongue swirling over the golden sweetness. Terry groped her other breast with his other hand, smearing honey across her skin as she let out a muffled moan. He followed it with his mouth, fervently licking the mess he had just made and grabbing the breast his mouth had just left. His mouth and hands became a flurry of action, emphasized all the more by the slowness of the honey as it inched along her skin. Kim lost track of where Terry’s hands were and where honey would next land on her body as he lifted her to sit on the counter, his tongue roving her breasts, her nipples, her neck, her throat, her stomach. She gasped when she felt the distinct sensation of the liquid dropping onto her lower belly and beginning to slide downward. Terry grasped her thighs and pushed them further apart as he hovered, waiting as the honey traveled down her skin. Kim’s breath was suspended, barely moving as her cunt pulsed, nothing but the anticipation of Terry’s mouth landing there holding any more of her attention. She glanced down to where the liquid shone like glass on her dark skin, moving like a melting glacier toward the heat that awaited it.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    I added more fingers and stroked her, pressed against that fleshy spot that makes me gasp. Tim moved closer and soon his hand joined mine. Together we were finger-fucking her, and she was bucking against us. I hadn’t felt this close to him in a long time. “Fuck her,” I said to him, almost breathless. “I want to see your cock slide inside her. I want to watch, and I want my fingers in her too when she comes.” Where was all this coming from? I only wondered for a split-second before his cock disappeared inside her juicy cunt and she was moaning in a voice too real to be a pretend porn voice. My cunt needed something, and I shoved fingers inside myself and humped my hand while I watched my husband madly fuck my friend. My brain fast-forwarded through all I wanted to do, and soon I was coming, crying out and slumping over. Teresa whispered frantically to me, “Your hand, put your hand down there.” I knew what she wanted. I moved slightly behind Tim’s pumping body and slid my hand down, over his balls, to where his cock joined her cunt. I pressed my hand there, feeling them both as they came, feeling the pulsations and flooding wetness. We stayed in a heap for a bit, catching our breath. The fire had died down, and our sweaty bodies chilled quickly. We untangled. Teresa pulled the blanket up and wrapped it around me and then her. Tim grabbed some more wood and fed the stove, then joined us. “Wow.” That’s all I could say. How fuckingly eloquent. Then I giggled. Tim smiled and leaned in to kiss me. “I love you so much. I’ve never told you before about this being a fantasy of mine, being with two women. I was afraid to. But this was incredible. Thank you.” Teresa was smiling. “You guys are so lucky to have each other. And I’m lucky to be here with you!” Outside the blizzard was still raging. “It’s not even midnight! Who wants more champagne?” OUR OWN PRIVATE CHAMPAGNE ROOM Rachel Kramer Bussel I can’t believe I’d been married to Derek for two years before I found out about his history in strip clubs. Perhaps that sounds a little too grandiose for what amounts to a handful of visits, but it feels like a secret past that I’d known nothing about, and I am, I’ll admit, a little jealous. Maybe more than a little bit. Even though I believe him when he says he hasn’t been to one since before we started dating, it’s the secrecy that sets me off more than the idea of beautiful, almost-naked women all over him. I’m jealous and turned on and confused by the intersection of the two. Plus it’s the present I’m more concerned about than the past, and the fact that I won’t be there.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    He meant to resist, but she had his shirt up and was running her cool hands along his belly, tucking them into his waistband. “Come down with me,” she said. She tugged him down as she went, both of them falling to the ground, the clover a cushion of sweet flower and the quiet buzzing of sun-warmed honeybees. He remembered his wire cutters at the last second, tossed them sideways out of the way. Maddy cupped the back of his head, brought him down for a giggled, honey-dipped kiss of lips and tongue. Laughing, they rolled, crushing the clover, bringing him again on top, part of her face covered with the sprigs of green and pink. Looking down at her was pleasure and a kind of pain that squeezed his chest and his cock at once. So beautiful and so his, but in that, the worry of losing her too. “Fuck me, Dustan.” Maddy’s eyes up to him, through him. “Please.” And then that thing that always happened, when the giggling stopped and their mouths opened and met, their bodies, still clothed, lined up against each other. As though a switch had been flipped, that electric heat that ran through them both, conducted by desire and pleasure. Dustan felt it everywhere—the tip of his cock, the edges of his lips as they touched hers, his fingertips. Sometimes he thought his very hair stood on end with the want. “Gladly,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about fucking you all morning.” And, here in that moment, he could talk, fully. He could say all the things in his head without tripping on his tongue, without the words halting him. His face burned when he said things like that, but it burned with a good thing, a safe and yet still dangerous thing. “But I think I’ll make you wait....” Her moan was everything to him, that small sound bitten back behind her lips. He pushed her dress up around her hips, watched the pale skin appear above the carpet of green. She had nothing on underneath, her golden-brown hair trimmed and curled. He dipped a finger, heard the soft groan as she arched her hips toward him, felt his cock harden fully at the feel of her, wet and wanting. He tucked another finger, marveled as always at the tight, warm pull of her around him. His thumb found the small peak of her clit, circled it lightly until she released another sigh. He could smell her—the sweet arousal from between her legs, the clover crushed beneath her each time she raised and lowered her hips into his hand. “Please,” she said. Her voice was graveled and breath-broken. The one time she had no words, a moment he loved for, lived for. “You’re making me...mmm...wait...on purpose.”

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    No sooner than he had put the bowl aside, his fly was open and his cock was standing out to attention, long and hard and impressive in its girth. Cassie rearranged herself on the chair, splaying her legs more thoroughly. She ran her fingers down her sex folds to hold them open, inviting him in. Samuel stared at the offering. He shoved his hand in his jeans pocket and pulled out a condom. He quickly tore it open and donned the rubber. Cassie’s knees lifted around his hips as he pressed the blunt head of his cock to her opening, making her moan aloud. He hesitated, and she encouraged him on, tapping his bottom with one of her heels. “Samuel, I need you, badly. You’ve teased and taunted me with your delicious cooking. You’ve got me in a terrible state. You have to put me out of my misery and make love to me.” Samuel did not seem able to reply verbally, but his physical response was perfect. He grabbed her around the buttocks with both hands and gave her his length, inch by inch, before easing back then pushing in to the hilt. Cassie expressed her gratitude audibly, her head going back as he stretched her open, filling her. He kissed her throat while he found his rhythm, his hands clutching at her bottom over and over as he drove himself into her. In between damp kisses on her neck, he whispered her name and groaned. “Oh, that’s so good!” she cried. “I’ve wanted you so badly.” When he lifted his head to look at her she plucked a lychee from the nearby fruit bowl and put it into his mouth, then kissed him, scooping the fruit from his tongue to hers. The action sent him into overdrive, his hips thrusting against hers over and over. When she bit into the succulent fruit and amaretto seeped onto her tongue she lifted her knees higher, angling his cock inside her. Her chair creaked and the front feet lifted, and she was grateful it was wedged against the cooker. “Oh yes,” she cried, when his cock thrust up against the front wall of her sex and hit against her center. “Promise me next time we do this we’ll eat the whole meal this way.” Samuel stopped moving, and he cupped her jaw tightly in one hand as he looked deep into her eyes, forbidding her to look away. “Only if you promise me there will be many next times.” Her emotions soared, her body strung out on the ecstasy of the moment, his words and actions making a deep impression on her, just as he obviously intended. Unbidden tears welled in her eyes. For a while there she’d thought she would never feel like this, never want anyone this much ever again.

  • From The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

    with present circumstances, but they have no sense of how to spark our imagination about the future. In all of these cases subtlety is sacrificed, and all of this has an overall hardening effect on our imaginations, which secretly crave something else. We see evidence of this in personal relationships as well. More and more people have come to believe that others should simply desire them for who they are. This means revealing as much as they can about themselves, exposing all of their likes and dislikes, and making themselves as familiar as possible. They leave no room for imagination or fantasy, and when the man or woman they want loses interest in them, they go online to rant at the superficiality of men or the fecklessness of women. Increasingly self-absorbed (see chapter 2), we find it harder than ever to get into the psychology of the other person, to imagine what they want from us instead of what we want from them. Understand: People may point to all of this as evidence that we humans are becoming more honest and truthful, but human nature does not change within a few generations. People have become more obvious and forthright not out of some deep moral calling but out of increasing self-absorption and overall laziness. It requires no effort to simply be oneself or to blast one’s message. And the lack of effort simply results in a lack of effect on other people’s psychology. It means that people’s interest in you will be paper thin. Their attention will quickly move on and you will not see the reason for this. Do not swallow the easy moralism of the day, which urges honesty at the expense of desirability. Go in the opposite direction. With so few people out there who understand the art of desirability, it affords you endless opportunities to shine and exploit people’s repressed fantasies. Strategies for Stimulating Desire The key to making this law work for you is to objectify yourself and what you produce. Normally you are locked in your own thoughts and dreams. You imagine people should love and respect you for who you are. You believe that what you produce should naturally excite people. After all, you have invested a lot of effort and have high hopes for success. But others see none of this. To them, you are just a person among others, and as a person you inspire either curiosity and excitement or indifference, and, even hostility. They project onto you their own fantasies and preconceptions. Once made public, your work is also an object completely divorced from your own hopes and dreams, and it inspires emotions that are weak or strong. To the degree that you can see yourself and what you produce as objects that people perceive in their own manner, you have the power to alter their perceptions and create objects of desire. The following are the three main strategies for creating such objects.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    The scent of plain soap swept into the cab that already smelled like him—musky male, diesel. But since he didn’t smoke and didn’t appear to collect his meals, it smelled pretty good for a trucker’s rig. Light shone from the top of a tall post in the parking lot, illuminating the cab. Security cameras would record who entered the truck but I hoped wouldn’t disclose what we were about to do inside the cab. Another reason I’d waited until tonight for this. Everyone would be blabbing. I sat in the plush leather passenger seat and glanced away as he climbed up into the driver’s seat. “Change your mind?” he asked softly. “No,” I bit out, a little annoyed that he asked. I wanted him to take the initiative, not seek my approval every step of the way. “Then why aren’t you in the back?” “Look, you don’t have to feel obligated,” I said, turning to meet his smoky gray gaze. “If you’d rather get some sleep...” “I jerked off in the shower.” My jaw sagged just a little, then snapped closed. “Now, why are you tellin’ me a thing like that?” “Because I want you to know how much I want you. Thought I’d take some of the edge off before I came out here. I didn’t want to leave you unsatisfied, darlin’.” I swallowed hard, eyeing the taut edge of his jaw, the glint of arousal in his eyes. Maybe it was just what I wanted to see, but I didn’t back away when he reached for me. He leaned toward me. His hands slid around my back, one gliding up to fist in my hair. He held my head still as he devoured my mouth, lips rubbing over mine, his tongue stroking in to mate with mine. He tasted like minty toothpaste. The hands pulling me from my seat were strong, his grip firm. I didn’t hesitate to follow his lead as he helped me rise and straddle his lap. My skirt rode up past my hips, and cool air hit my bare cheeks, but I didn’t care. With the steering wheel rubbing my back, I settled over him, gripping his shoulders, at last feeling the muscles I’d admired for so long flex beneath my wandering palms. I tested his hardness, scratched down the deep indent of his spine, raked his scalp with my nails. He broke the kiss and pushed me away. Then he tucked his fingers under the top edge of my red shirt and pulled down the stretchy fabric until the neckline cupped the underside of my breasts. “Interestin’ bra,” he drawled. I glanced down. My nipples and most of my fleshy breasts were exposed, sitting on a shelf of lace and underwire. “I hoped you’d like it,” I said, my voice creaking like a dry hinge. Thumbs and forefingers plucked my nipples, pinching and twisting gently, then tugging with more insistence. My heartbeats quickened, and blood surged to the aching tips, engorging them.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    He switched up the setting on the vibrator, placed a buzzer on my clit, and moved his soaked gloved fingers up the crack of my bum to find the unoccupied hole. I wanted so badly to cry out when he began the loving, unhurried business of lubrication, but I held back, my thighs shuddering, cunt in turmoil, sore throat totally forgotten, while he circled and probed, circled and probed, over and over and over. “I think this is where the dosage will be given,” he pronounced. A low sound would have escaped me, if my faulty throat hadn’t provided salvation. My head was in thrall to my body, my instructions and resolutions on the verge of being forgotten. I had to remember to be quiet. I had to make sure the treatment worked. His fingers spread my tight-furled asshole, preparing it thoroughly, examining its depth and width with scientific care. “Yes,” he said. He was struggling to stay calm, I could tell, and I was struggling not to come, wanting to save myself for the moment of possession. Over the buzzing and the insistent roar of my blood in my ears, I heard the unbuckling of belts, the lowering of trousers, the removal of undergarments and then he was behind me, holding my flanks, nudging up against the vibrator at first then parting my cheeks. “Take your medicine,” he breathed, then his impossible width amazed me anew by edging through my anal defenses, gathering lube on the way. I puffed and clenched my fists, trying not to resist, trying to wrap myself up in the dark comfort blanket of total submission, feeling and knowing myself to be his in every way. Penetrated in every orifice except the one I had to keep such stringent control of, I slid down inside myself, becoming a creature of sex and surrender, a helpless patient having to accept that my doctor knew better than me. The dosage was strong and the side effects included some discomfort and a few pangs, but the best medicine has unpleasant features, so I accepted it willingly, pushing myself back to take his entire length, showing him my trust. “That’s good,” he said, beginning a slow thrust, rubbing up against the vibrator in my other hole with each push forward.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    CHEATING TIME Kate Pearce By the time Jodi flipped open her cell phone and checked the address, her cab had already driven off down the street, leaving her the option of going into the bar or calling for another ride. She considered the cheap flashing neon sign. Half the letters were already burned out, and the logo now read “mingo.” From the fluorescent pink and the dark skeleton of a one-legged bird that perched on the top of the sign, she could only assume the name was supposed to allude more to a tropical paradise than a Californian backwater gold town. She shuddered as she contemplated the well-kicked-in door. Paradise it wasn’t, but she’d already decided she was going through with it. Her date had been very specific about the place she was to meet him, and she didn’t want to fuck this up. Time was too precious. Just the thought of seeing him was already making her heart race, and her body tighten in the most intimate of places. The door was pushed open and a blast of beer-laden air and the thump of a jukebox hit her in the face. Two guys walked past and gave her the once-over. One of them winked, but she was way too wound up to flirt. She clutched her black purse. Would he care about that? What exactly was he expecting her to do tonight? She should have learned never to make promises when she was drunk. Doubt clouded her bravado, and she almost turned back. Someone came up behind her and she found herself walking forward into the noisy crush of people enjoying their Saturday night. Immediately she looked around for him, but there were several guys wearing cowboy hats, and some of them even looked like the genuine article with scuffed boots, Wrangler jeans, and faces lined from staring into the sun. The floor was made of wide planks, and despite the sign, the décor was definitely more western than Caribbean. The jukebox started up, and Jodi had to move to one side to avoid the crush of people who wanted to join the line dancing. She looked down at her open-toe sandals and brand-new red pedicure and winced at the thought of a heavy boot stomping on her delicate toes. But he’d told her what he wanted her to wear, and she’d followed his instructions to the letter. Silky red tank top, short denim skirt, and thong underwear, also red and lacy, and currently damp with anticipation. She skirted the line dancers and headed toward the bar that was situated against the back wall. The six bar stools covered in cracked black leatherette were all occupied except the one nearest her. Jodi hesitated for a second, and the cowboy sitting closest swung around to stare at her. She almost swallowed her tongue as she recognized her date for the night.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    Justin looked her straight in the eye, and for an instant Sophie did feel possessed, owned. Yet at the same time her body was strangely free and buoyant. “Because I know you’re going to enjoy it,” he said firmly. “I know I’m going to make you come.” “Oh, god,” she whispered, a hot wave of arousal fanning up from her pussy up through her chest. Then she cried out again, “Oh, god, sorry about that.” “What?” “This has never happened before. I sort of, well, flooded my panties. I’m just so…turned on. The way you’re talking…” Justin’s finger burrowed under the elastic of her underwear and came out glistening. Smiling mischievously, he anointed her stiff nipple with her own moisture. She squirmed and bit her lip. “I see you like it when I talk dirty and rub your own juices on your tits,” he said, his voice husky. Sophie felt another release between her legs. Her arousal had never been so obvious—or copious. “Sorry, again,” she stammered, “I think we’re both drenched now.” “Then let’s get out of these wet things. I want you naked anyway,” he replied. There was definitely a new confidence in his tone, as if her obedience was expected and required. Of course, Sophie wanted to be naked, too. She quickly unfastened her skirt, slithered out of her soaking underwear. Justin was out of his khakis and briefs in record time. With a shiver of embarrassment, she noticed the circle of moisture she’d deposited on his fly. Her husband pulled her onto his belly again, his hard cock nudging up against her ass. “Now rub your wet pussy against me. Make it happen again.” “I don’t know if I can.” “You’re my wife now, Sophie. You have to do what I say in bed. And it’s not just that piece of paper. You yourself gave me your pussy as a gift. So I want it to drool all over my stomach to show me how turned on you are.” Sophie wanted to do as he asked, but her body’s strange new response was really beyond her control. Still, it was her duty to try her best to satisfy her husband’s carnal appetites. And so she began to grind her swollen lips against his belly, in an effort to produce another mysterious effusion of desire. Justin grabbed her ass and squeezed hard. “I like it that you’re so horny you have to masturbate on me, but I’m not sure if you’re trying hard enough. Do I have to spank you to get you to obey? Now that you’re mine, I can punish you when you don’t please me.” Sophie stiffened as if she’d actually been struck. In an instant, a fresh puddle of her hot juices pooled onto his belly. Justin arched back into the mattress. “Fuck, I love that. How do you do that?” “You’re doing it to me. It’s you,” Sophie admitted. “You like this, huh?”

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    If there hadn’t been boxes under her desk, Joanna would have crawled under it. The Trojans rescinded to the very back of her bottom desk drawer, under padded half-sized envelopes and behind a dog- eared copy of Delta of Venus. When next Tom visited, she joined him for a drink, but she didn’t even think about trying to seduce him. No, better to tackle him only in her fantasies, to tear his clothes off, suck his cock until he begged her to fuck him, then she would mercilessly ride him until she was good and ready to come. Maybe she’d let him come then. Maybe. Fuck the Brazilians. After that, his visits had been pleasant, and her desire for him had remained undimmed and unfulfilled, but she had never again considered crossing the line between friendship and bare flesh. And now time was running out. The nerve to take it. What did that mean? She glanced at the clock at the corner of her monitor screen. The nerve to take it. Nerve that didn’t guarantee she’d get what she wanted, just that she’d had the courage to reach for it. Yes, she’d need nerve if she was going to rip Les Grinion’s job from under his tasseled shoes. The Atlanta office was a cutthroat place to work. She’d need smarts, timing, and nerve. It was one thing to plan, it was another to execute, and fear of failure was not an acceptable excuse. That was Les’s unwitting gift to her—that kernel of realization, and she had every intention of making it his final condescension. Just like the job, Tom Wolburn was something—someone—she wanted, and this would be the last time she could count on seeing him. She had to do this. She had to reach out, to bridge the distance between their clasped hands, to turn confidence and comfort into sex. She had to, even knowing he’d almost certainly reject her. That was Les’s message. Executives took risks—sure, they weighed profit against loss and sometimes they guessed wrong, but those who succeeded took risks! She had to put herself out there. Joanna knew if she left Miami without even trying to hook up with Tom, she’d not only regret it all her life, the regional manager’s desk in Atlanta would be the terminal point in her career. The warm tap of shoes on the marble foyer drew her out of her thoughts. Tom! There he was, the back of his suit jacket creased from hours of sitting, and he looked as if he’d shrunk a couple inches. The bolt of concern singed more than her heart. Recurrent guests passed through lives beyond her knowing, and she had seen more than one decline between visits, eroded by health or misfortune.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    He pushed her against the back of the elevator, pulling up her skirt, greedy fingers stroking her thighs, finding her panties, and sliding beyond the thin lace to her soaked pussy. He groaned, his kiss deepening further, and Joanna answered his arousal by gripping his ass, longing for the firm flesh to be free of his trousers. Boxers or briefs, what would it be? The chime rang almost mute beneath their panting and groping, but when the doors opened, Joanna moaned against Tom’s mouth, pushing him toward the gate, closer to fulfillment. His fingers circled her clit. The suction of the kiss broke as she pushed him, grinding her hips against his hand, gasping for air. He stepped back, their dance made of steps banned by Arthur Murray. His heel caught on the metal lip of the elevator as they stumbled back, balance completely lost until his thighs hit the back of the sofa in the elevator landing. Golden wallpaper with subtle fleur-de-lis appliqués rose to a ceiling dominated by a tasteful, frosted light fixture. Several other upholstered chairs, end tables, and two huge vases filled with fresh flowers furnished the little lobby. He spun, a final effort to save both of them a tumble over the couch back. When Joanna’s butt hit the top of the sofa she welcomed the full weight of him, the momentum of their fall pressing him harder into her. Her lips found his again, ravenous, drawing his flesh into her even as his fingertips stroked the folds of her pussy and slid easily into her. Electric bites of pleasure zapped her nerves, spreading heat and sensation through her. Her hips ground against his hand spastically, graceless, but honest and greedy. Tom continued to press her against the back of the sofa, pulling her skirt up, her panties down. He took his hand from her clit long enough to pull her blouse free of the waistband of her skirt, reaching under it, under her lace bra to her breasts, cupping them as if he weighed them, testing her hard nipples, circling the tips until she panted. He pulled back just enough to turn her away from him, so that his cock bumped her butt. He pinned her, holding her still, and when he took his hands from her, she felt like a boiling pot with the fire suddenly turned off. The crinkle and tear of plastic registered moments before his hands again found her skin, one stroking the curve of her ass, the other stroking up the crack of her pussy, teasing her, spreading her. The stroke of his cock head along her pussy lips nearly shoved her over the edge. Coated in her juices, he pressed into her from behind, his cock thick, hard and gloriously filling. His exhalation bordered on a moan, and with his balls slapping her butt, he paused, buried deep.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    “Oh yes, that’s really good,” she blurted when the hard digit slid inside her. She clutched it eagerly, and her upper body rested back against the chair. She pivoted on her hips, moving against his finger, her shoulders leaning against the knobs of the cooker at her back. “Eat something,” he whispered, nodding over at the table. Cassie dipped her finger along the edge of her plate, then took it to her mouth and sucked the spicy sauce from it, watching him as she did so. The spices ran along her taste buds once again, making them tingle and spark. Her entire skin kindled, and her nipples chaffed against her dress. Her core clenched rhythmically, and the hard length of his fingers in there felt even better than before. “Oh, you’re good!” “I’ll have you know I take my research very seriously.” He got the comment out then groaned and peered down at her pussy as it clutched at him. “You’re amazing,” he added. Cassie rocked her hips, riding his fingers. What she really wanted was his cock, and she could tell by looking at him that he would be ready and willing. “Didn’t you say you had dessert?” “Yes, tropical fruit marinated in amaretto.” She purred aloud and gyrated, getting hornier by the moment. “Why don’t you feed it to me while you’re inside me…?” She let that suggestion hang between them. A moment later, understanding lit his expression. He removed his fingers, reached over to the fridge and pulled out a large, covered dish. As he did so Cassie caught sight of the bulge in his jeans. There was no doubting his state of readiness, and she quickly stripped her G-string off, ready—oh so ready—for more of everything. Samuel clutched the bowl in one hand, the other closing over her bared pussy. There was a possessive look in his eyes. He squeezed her, as if he was testing her for ripeness. Then he lifted a piece of juicy mango from the bowl and held it out to her mouth. She took the offering, licking his fingertips as she did so. He nodded, smiling. The texture and flavor was like a seductive dance on her tongue, the juicy fruit making her own juices flow all the more. “You make me feel greedy.” Samuel’s eyes had grown hooded, and the smile that played around his mouth made him even more attractive. “You make me feel lucky.” He was clutching the bowl as if he was afraid of what he might do if he let go of it. It made her chuckle. “Put the bowl down on the table, and give me something harder.” She nodded down at his groin. Samuel didn’t seem to need to assess the risk of this potential action. No sooner than he had put the bowl aside, his fly was open and his cock was standing out to attention, long and hard and impressive in its girth.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    He opened the door and caught his breath. Brynn was in the bathtub, her long blond hair twisted up in a knot on her head, a pouf of bubbles surrounding her pale, naked body. The only illumination was the fading sunlight through the bathroom window above the tub, and Brynn seemed to glow in that golden light. If not for her red-rimmed eyes and shiny red nose, she would look like a mermaid splashing about in the tub. A sexy mermaid. Paul felt something inside him catch—and he smiled gently. He loved this woman, no matter how crazy she made him sometimes. Loved her and wanted her. “The water isn’t too hot,” Brynn said quickly. They had been reading the baby books in bed together before they went to sleep—about the only thing they really did in bed anymore. “I’m sure it’s fine.” Brynn sunk down lower in the tub, the peak of her pregnant belly remaining above the surface of the water. “Don’t look at me, I’m hideous.” Paul perched on the edge of the tub, studying her. “No, you’re not. You’re stunning.” Shaking her head stubbornly, Brynn pointed to her stomach. “I found a stretch mark. All these months of slathering myself with cocoa butter and my skin is bursting anyway.” “Where? I don’t see anything.” Brynn pointed to a faint purple mark that started an inch or so under her belly button and disappeared into the water. “There. It’s ugly. These things are like gray hairs—where there’s one, there will be more. I’ll be covered in them.” A fresh bout of tears followed, and Paul couldn’t help but chuckle. “Why are you laughing at me?” Brynn sat up, more indignant than modest. “It’s not funny. I look like a whale.” “You look like a mermaid.” “Don’t try placating me,” Brynn accused. “I know what I look like.” Paul slipped to his knees beside the tub, the water that had splashed over the side of the tub soaking through his trousers. “No, you don’t know what you look like. You’re emotional and afraid and you look in the mirror and see how your body has changed and think it’s a bad thing—but it’s not.” He took Brynn’s face in his hands. “Listen to me. You are beautiful. I love the way your body is changing.” To prove his point, he moved his hand from Brynn’s cheek down to her full, dark-tipped breasts. They were exotic, earthy—larger than he’d ever seen them. Paul felt something he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in months out of respect for Brynn’s self-consciousness and discomfort: desire. Hot and needy desire. Without thinking, he cupped Brynn’s breasts in his hands. He thumbed the distended nipples and watched them tighten under his firm caress. “What are you doing?” Brynn asked, a tremor in her voice. Paul looked into those dark cerulean eyes, so suitable for a sexy mermaid. “I’m showing you how beautiful you are.” Brynn squirmed under Paul’s touch, her eyes wide. “That feels…nice.”

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    Lift up.” I did, yanking my dress out from under me. Eric braced himself with one hand. He put the other on my waist, gently guiding me down onto his shaft. “Fuck!” he growled. Hot. Full. He filled me so perfectly. The thick girth of his shaft was stretching me, filling me as I’d needed to be filled for so very long. I mewled with pleasure, my hands stretched over my head, my fingers gripping his hair as he rocked his hips beneath me. “I’m gonna come,” he panted, his body arching up, his cock surging deep as he wrapped his arms around me. “Dammit! I’m gonna come!” With one hand, he spread my pussy lips. With the other, he rubbed his finger over my clit in the most delicious, most intense circles of my entire life. I screamed as I came, my pussy muscles gripping and squeezing him in glorious, rhythmic spasms of sheer ecstasy as he roared and bucked up into me. My pussy juice squirted over his hand and I screamed again, clenching him ferociously as he surged and thrust his cock harder, deeper into me. And he stayed hard. My whole body was trembling as his fingers kept stroking, driving me right back up. “Again,” he growled. “Rock your hips against me.” I did, shuddering as his cock pressed back and forth inside me, deep and hard into places that were orgasms waiting to happen. “I want to come again,” I panted, grinding against him. “You will, baby,” he laughed, “as often as you want.” He moved his hand up to my nipples, cupping them and squeezing the hard buds between his thumbs and forefingers. “Use your beautiful, strong legs to lift up on those gorgeous heels, just a little bit.” He shuddered as I lifted. “Not too far. That’s it. Just enough so we’re both feeling your luscious, hot pussy riding my cock.” It felt good. Oh, God, it felt so good! “P-put your f-fingers, on my c-clit,” I panted, clenching my pussy muscles around him, squeezing as I lowered myself, squeezing again as I raised back up. “In a minute, baby.” His voice was a low, sexy growl that made my pussy cream even harder. “I’ll touch you again when your pussy is ready. When your clit’s so sensitive you scream when I touch it.” He was as good as his word. He raised and lowered me on his cock, fucking me over him while he played with my nipples, getting all those special spots deep inside me so sensitized I was almost going to come from that touch alone. “Please,” I wailed. “Please, now!” He pulled me down onto his cock, rocking his hips and parting my pussy lips with one hand. “Look at the window,” he growled. “Look at us.”

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    I flattened my hands against the back of his head and pulled him toward one spiked tip. I groaned when his mouth latched onto it. He nibbled and licked, bit and rolled. I ground down against his lap, against the ridge thickening inside his jeans. I rubbed forward and back, the coarse denim building frictional heat between my legs. One of his hands dropped to my ass, and he moaned as his long fingers dug into the skin bared by my thong. “Get into the back.” Breathing hard, I stared down. His mouth was blurred and red. His cheeks sharp, expression feral. The hardness in his gaze could have cut diamonds, and again, I didn’t hesitate, no matter that my ass was in his face when I climbed between the seats to the sleeping berth. The bed was mussed, the sheets wadded at one end. I lay down on my side and scooted toward the back, waiting until he was clear of the seats and stretching out beside me. Only his legs were too long and he lay at a diagonal, crowding my knees. I slid a thigh between his legs and climbed over his body. When I sat atop his hips, he smoothed his palms up my torso, rolling up the shirt. When that flew over the seats, he reached around me and expertly opened the clasp of my bra. Without the underwire, I worried that my heavy breasts would sag too much, but he hefted them in his palms and his breaths deepened. “I’ve wanted to suck on these forever.” I gave a short, strangled laugh. “I wouldn’t have said no.” “Then why’d you wait so long?” “Why didn’t you make the first move? Are you really that arrogant that you have to have a woman come to you?” “I didn’t think you’d say yes.” “Really?” He grunted, the sandpaper pads of his thumbs continuing to rasp over my nipples. “You’re pretty. Smart too. And you have every man drivin’ sniffin’ after you.” “But you’re handsome. I bet you don’t get many no’s from women.” He arched a brow. “Okay, so not handsome like a movie star. But you’re rugged and built like a god. I didn’t think you’d want me. I’m too old for you.” “There’s only eleven years between us.” I raised my brows. “How do you know that?” “I ate your birthday cake and counted the candles.” When he pinched my nipples, I tensed, my eyelids dipping. “I guess eleven years doesn’t really matter,” I gasped, “when all we’re doin’ is screwin’ around.” He pinched harder, then holding my gaze he came up on his elbows and rooted at one of my breasts, sucking the tip, and more, into his mouth. His moan was deep and gravelly. I felt it all the way to my toes.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    Thomas Wolburn would no longer be the steady fixation of her lustful dreams. His clockwork stays at Suite Rewards Miami, three times a year for the past four years, had helped kill two vibrators in Joanna’s nightstand. Part of her loved him, loved his smile, even after a six-hour delay in his flights, loved his wit and intelligence, plus he had an ass to make women drool. She knew he wasn’t conventionally handsome—a faded scar from forehead to jaw dropped his left eyelid to near closing and his nose was crooked, but Joanna would have gladly sold her soul to have his minty-green eyes look at her lustfully, or to have him kiss her, his lips so generous she sometimes wondered if he patronized Botox clinics. She had fantasized many times about those full lips locked around her nipples or rubbing against her clit. The job in Atlanta had been a fantasy too. She still chafed at the comment made at her interview by Les Grinion. “Joanna, you could have had this job a lot sooner if you’d had the nerve to take it.” Nerve to take it. Hadn’t that been the story of her life? When had she ever just taken something? She never stepped outside her safety zone, never threw caution to the wind and just took something for herself. Life just happened to her. She’d become a wife because Mark had asked and because she didn’t think anyone else would. Five years later, divorced and up to her gills in debt, she took a desk clerk job at Suite Rewards because it had been the first thing she had been offered. She worked diligently and, when their concierge quit, she had been assigned to cover his desk until a replacement could be found. Joanna learned five months later they never posted the position. She’d been promoted, and no one had even bothered to tell her. Until she mentioned it tentatively, her title and pay hadn’t changed. Once she knew that she wasn’t just a placeholder, she owned the position. She charmed entertainment and restaurant contacts in South Beach, Little Havana, and other hot spots in Miami, made sure the hotel was on the lodging list for every appropriate event, maintained an aggressive local events calendar on the Suite Rewards website, and made sure guests were emailed important notices in advance. She developed inside sources, like the one who helped her get courtside seats to a Miami Heat playoff game for an important guest. She was good at her job, and she enjoyed it.

  • From Best Erotic Romance

    “If that’s what you really want. Who am I to say no to an idea like that?” Blake stood up, pulling me to my feet with him. He reached behind me and started to unzip my outfit, peeling the black vinyl down my skin until my breasts popped out of the top. As he continued to undress me, he captured one of my nipples in his mouth, swirling his tongue and sucking in a wonderfully familiar way. He released me all too soon, and I helped Blake with the rest of my outfit, stretching it over my shiny boots and tossing it aside. He dropped to his knees and started untying my boots, taking his sweet time, kissing my legs as he went. When he was finished, he sat on the bed, sliding back toward the headboard, the same place he was before I let him loose. He was waiting for me to do something, and I didn’t hesitate to oblige him. I didn’t try and come up with something interesting; I just straddled him. My legs wrapping around his waist, I kissed him deeply, rocking slightly on his lap. I felt his bare chest with my hands, the heat coming off his skin in waves. He leaned forward, his tongue flicked over my collarbone, dropping kisses down to my breasts. His fingers teased me, pulling my nipples into tight peaks, while his mouth stayed away, only making me want it more. I arched my back, but he went on with his game. Until I started grinding myself against his growing cock. He then became much more generous with his affection. He mumbled against my skin, the vibration tickling me. “This is more like it, Daisy. Aren’t you glad I finally said something?” He moved right back to my breasts, not waiting for my response. The heat of his mouth on my nipple made me turn to jelly inside, my body tensing with each sucking kiss. Before I knew it, he flipped me on my back, resuming his torture of my hard nipples with his hands and mouth. I lay on the bed, helpless, letting him slowly circle each nipple with his tongue, drawing me closer and closer to losing my mind. Then, he started sinking lower, his mouth teasing, tickling down my stomach until I was trembling under his lips. I felt his long fingers tracing over my pubic hair, running aimlessly about, avoiding what I really wanted him to do. The lightest pressure of his fingers made me heat up inside, liquefying under his touch. I moved my hips in circles, enjoying the barest of touches. But, I wanted more. I pulled him up so I could look at him, and he was smiling like a very happy boy. “Blakey, please stop teasing me. I need you.” “Sorry, but it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to do this. You’ll give me a little latitude, won’t you?”

In behavioral science