1. ‘I HATE THAT I WASN’T THE FIRST GUY TO KISS YOU’

“My boyfriend told me that the thing that he hates most in life is that he wasn’t the first guy to kiss me.”

—Audrey, 22

2. ‘YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GLAD I AM THAT I MET YOU’

“We were down near the waterfront, and he turned to me and said, ‘You have no idea how glad I am that I met you.’ Instant lady boner!”

—Steph, 21

3. ‘THERE’S EVERYBODY ELSE, AND THEN THERE’S YOU’

“It was something like, ‘You’re different than any girl I’ve ever met, and you’re also different than any girl I’ll ever meet. There are only two types of girls in the world—there’s everybody else, and then there’s you.’ I was like, ‘Sign me up!’ We lasted about two years and then I guess the cheating asshole moved on to ‘everybody else.’”

—Francesca, 25

4. I’VE LOVED YOU SINCE THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN’

“‘I’ve loved you ever since the first day of kindergarten.’ He told me this when we were in our late 20s and hadn’t seen each other since middle school. That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me, even though we were both married.”

—Amy, 33

5. ‘WHEREVER YOU ARE, THAT’S WHERE I WANT TO BE’

“My ex-boyfriend told me, ‘I look in your eyes and I want you to walk through this world through me. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.’ I call him my ex-boyfriend because now he’s my husband.”

—Polly, 28

6. ‘I COULDN’T STOP MYSELF FROM LOVING YOU’

“We had been dating for about two months and one night when we went out for a romantic dinner my boyfriend told me, ‘When I first met you I held back a little bit because I knew that once I stopped holding back, I couldn’t stop myself from loving you.’ I shrieked out loud, because I was biting my lip so hard trying not to tell him that I love him. But once the ice was broken, we must have used the ‘L’ word ten thousand times that night.”

—Shana, 26

7. ‘EVERYTHING ELSE LOOKS UGLY COMPARED TO YOU’

“It was when my boyfriend told me he never wanted to take his eyes off me because everything else would look ugly by comparison. Talk about my heart going pitter-patter!”

—Bec, 24

8. ‘YOU’RE SO DREAMY, EVERYTHING ELSE IS LIKE A NIGHTMARE’

“My guy told me, ’You’re so dreamy, everything else is like a nightmare. If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.’ That was two years ago, and we’re still both living the dream.”

—Lilli, 26

9. ‘I’M GLAD YOU’RE NOT LIKE MY MOTHER’

“He said he was glad I’m not like his mother. I know how much he hates his mother—I mean, like, he’d kill her if he could get away with it—so I know how much of a compliment that is. It doesn’t sound very romantic unless you realize how much he hates his mom.”

—Suzy, 30

10. ‘WHEN I FIRST LAID EYES ON YOU, EVERY OTHER GIRL IN THE WORLD BECAME A BLUR’

“About a year ago my boyfriend said that when he first laid eyes on me, every other girl in the world became a blur. I not only blushed when he told me that, I even got a little wet!”

—Jenna, 28

11. ‘I WANT TO PUT A BABY IN YOUR BELLY’

“I was walking along the boardwalk in New Jersey last summer when a guy walked up to me and said, ‘I want to put a baby in your belly.’ Mind you, this guy was movie-star gorgeous. So I was all, ‘Yes, please!’”

—Terri, 26

12. ‘LOOKING AT YOU IS LIKE STARING INTO THE SUN’

“He told me I was so pretty that it was hard to make eye contact because it was like staring into the sun. I batted my eyelashes at him just so he wouldn’t go blind. I’m considerate like that.”

—Alli, 27

13. ‘I FEEL DRAWN TO YOU LIKE A MOTH TO A FLAME’

“A guy I’ve been dating sent me this text: ‘I feel drawn to you like a moth to a flame, and if I get burned in the process, you’re so beautiful that it’s worth the risk.’ I was touched by his vulnerability.”

—Juli, 27

14. ‘I WANT TO TAKE YOU HOME TO MOM AND THEN FUCK YOU IN THE ATTIC’

“This boy I was seeing in college told me something along the lines of, ‘Most guys classify girls into two groups: Those whom you take home to mom and those you fuck. I want to take you home to mom and then fuck you in the attic while she’s napping downstairs.’ That was not only the most romantic thing a guy has ever said to me, it was also the hottest.”

—Cyndi, 24