Delphine Dryden > Quotes

“Sense memories of you persist and do not seem to abate as the day progresses. It’s disconcerting, Camilla. I don’t like it when my mind plays tricks on me. I would much rather simply have you here in the flesh, to feel and taste and smell with my actual senses. Instead my mind keeps conjuring this false perception of your presence. I think it means I miss you.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“Camilla, you…my God,” he whispered against my skin, his voice sounding oddly strained. “Sweetheart, do you even know? You’re so perfect and you don’t even realize.”

The endearment seeped into me like a touch, warming me as much as his body did. “Did I say a good thing, Professor?”

“Oh, you said an amazing thing. Tonight I’m going to make very, very sure you know how much it means to me.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“In the fantasy I spun for myself that night before falling asleep, those deep dark secrets were revealed. That simple touch became a violent embrace, worthy of any bodice-ripper. There were a certain number of gleeful perversions committed on Ivan's battered leather sofa. And at some point in the fantasy, Ivan was a vampire, because I was sort of weird that way. He was a real, Gothic-style, Bram Stoker sort of vampire who bit people as a metaphor for having dubious-consent, alpha-male sex with them, I should point out. None of your modern, sensitive vampires for me. I appreciated the classics.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“In the National Geographic movie of my twisted mind, the lion had just leaped on the gazelle, pinned it to the ground and mounted it from behind. Apparently, the devouring could wait. I should point out that these little flights of fancy on my part often involved extremely improbable animal pairings. I blamed cartoons.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“Two arguing geeks were stoppable. Three arguing geeks created an infinite argument vortex of doom that sucked time down like a black hole.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction: The Theory of Attraction / A Shot in the Dark / Forbidden Fantasies

“It was difficult to explain the concept of a party pooper to somebody who didn’t really get the concept of a party”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“Two arguing geeks were stoppable. Three arguing geeks created an infinite argument vortex of doom that sucked time down like a black hole. “Okay,”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“Girlfriend doesn’t seem like the right word for what you mean to me. Probably that’s what I should be calling you to other people, since I can’t introduce you at parties as my submissive. But to me, saying you’re just my girlfriend would be…it would feel like I was saying I wasn’t pleased with you, or proud of you. And I am. I’ve never had a submissive of my own before, because I’ve never met anybody I felt a connection with until now. On the other hand, I’ve also never had a girlfriend, so I don’t have a basis for comparison.”

[...]

“The thing is,” Ivan went on, his voice soft and soothing over the counterpoint of the howling wind outside, the insistent thrumming of the rain on the rooftop, “I think this is love. But I’ve never been in love before, either, so I don’t know.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“Well, I’m still not convinced you’re actually people, honey.” “I’m a superior mutation?” He seemed eager to embrace the possibility. “I was thinking more like an alien or a pod person. But sure.” “Superman was an alien. I could live with that.” I shrugged. “I always preferred Clark Kent.” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “I always suspected that Clark Kent was the real personality, and—” “Superman was the disguise,” I chimed in. “Exactly. Lois was such a fool.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“... he would apologize. He would say all the right things. But he just didn't get it. The next time, nothing would have changed.”
― Delphine Dryden, How to Tell a Lie

“Delicate petals Flow open to receive me Sweetest kiss of all Holy”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“But one cannot avenge a death, not really. One can only try to honor the memory of the dead by furthering their life's work to the best of one's ability.”
― Delphine Dryden, Gossamer Wing

“Allison?' 'Mmmm?' 'You do realize I'm in love with you? Right?”
― Delphine Dryden, How to Tell a Lie

“Sense memories of you persist and do not seem to abate as the day progresses. It’s disconcerting, Camilla. I don’t like it when my mind plays tricks on me. I would much rather simply have you here in the flesh, to feel and taste and smell with my actual senses. Instead my mind keeps conjuring this false perception of your presence. I think it means I miss you. I”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“He called it taking, but I felt as though he were giving me these things, these actions, like pieces of himself. Challenging me to receive these odd gifts, because they were all he had to give. His attention, his regard. His respect, which was the strangest thing of all, because I had expected to feel degraded at some point in all this and instead I felt valued beyond measure. Cherished. Strong.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“You see,” he explained patiently after they both recovered their wits, “I’m quite fatally in love with you. And it has recently come to my attention that after the New Year, I’ll be in need of a countess.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Lamplighter's Love

“Everything. That’s what I’m feeling. I just want to remember everything about this exact moment. The way I can still smell you and taste you on my lips. The way it feels to be inside you, so hot and good. How your stomach feels, moving against mine every time you take a breath. I can hear you breathing too.”
― Delphine Dryden, Love with a Chance of Zombies

“Um...we should have fewer pants on. This would be a great pants-free situation.”
― Delphine Dryden, The Principle of Desire

“Making love - having sex - with James had been like discovering a lie of omission. She had become more aware of things because of their pronounced absence.”
― Delphine Dryden, How to Tell a Lie

“most people don’t really consider social energy to be a finite resource”
― Delphine Dryden, The Theory of Attraction

“Unfortunately, she discovered too late that her unwritten list of desirable attributes was missing a few crucial items. Empathy, for one. A willingness to change his own life plan in order to accommodate somebody else's goals, for another. A sense of humor that extended past joke telling, to encompass an appreciation of life's absurdities. And lastly, but possibly most important of all, a capacity for intimacy.”
― Delphine Dryden, How to Tell a Lie