Romance for Real Women

Shirtless in jeans. What’s not to love? And this hot guy is so happy….

And then there’s pensive, shirtless in jeans.

And the designer stubble is just the icing on the…ah…cake.

Aloutte

Lately I’ve been fascinated by men with very dark hair and bright blue eyes. It’s a combination you see on French men a lot but rarely elsewhere.  Don’t get me wrong, a fabulous body trumps blue eyes almost every time. Still, tall, dark, gorgeous AND bright blue eyes…sigh.  Today’s hot guy looks French to me but, brace yourself, he’s British. Yep, that land not famed for tall, dark and handsome. Maybe a Frenchman dipped into this gene pool somewhere. Not that it matters in the least.

And, yes, he’s David Gandy, the guy in the posters at the department store men’s fragrance counter. Truly awesome life size.

Hmmmmmm. Wouldn’t mind getting set adrift with him.

Aloutte

August in Texas…Hell with Humidity. This should be a great time of year for hot bod watching.  Alas, it just ain’t so. Nevertheless, in the interest of perpetuating the myth that Texas is one big ranch full of hunky cowboys–shirtless in August–here are this week’s hot guys.

And cowboys in the city….

With shoulders and abs like those, who needs to see a face?

Aloutte

A few weeks back I intended to post Beiron Andersson and got distracted by Becks’ ad campaign for Armani…me and about every other woman in the world with a pulse and internet access. So today is Beiron day.

Back in the mid 1990’s Beiron Andersson arrived in the US from Sweden and got a gig doing Guess adverts. His photos became instant classics, so much so that when I first discovered him a couple of years ago I assumed he was still in his 20’s. I’ll admit felt a tiny bit guilty lusting after such a young guy, but he was sooooooo delicious I sucked up my shame and continued to appreciate. Then I discovered he is now 40ish and still totally lust-worthy. So today our hot guy is one of the all time hottest in his youthful glory.

And I also want to point out Armani used him in one of its bathing suit adverts. Gotta love Armani, at least its male models.

One Friday soon I’ll post some current pics. Hint: He’s still got it and may be even better.

Aloutte

A few months ago a British tabloid ran a story about male body hair and a survey asking who likes it and who doesn’t. I have a huge stash of hot guy pics and it struck me that very few of them had body hair. I did my own informal survey and was surprised to find a significant generational gap among women in their attitudes toward male body hair and an even bigger gap in men. Older women (50+) pretty much see body hair as a given in their partners since most men 50+ have never even considered man-scaping. On the other hand, young women (20’s to mid 30’s) often said they insisted on at least basic man-scaping.

Personally, I understand why a regular guy wouldn’t want to wax his entire body regularly (although they sure like it that we get our painful bikini waxes), but let’s face it—if I wanted a bed full of hair, I’d let my black lab sleep with me. Furry shoulders and backs just aren’t sexy. A bit of chest hair…okay. (BTW, whisker stubble is VERY sexy. Go figure.) As for private areas, all I can say is at least trim, guys. It’s called grooming. The same he-man who would be disgusted if a pretty woman failed to shave or wax legs, armpits and bikini often expects us to be turned on by the thick pelt covering his entire body. Yuck!

But to be fair, not all body hair is equal. Here are two hot guys—one with and one without. So what’s the verdict?

 In a YSL fragrance ad a few years back, Tom Ford had a gorgeous young French athlete pose naked complete with natural body hair. BTW, ads only appeared in French mags and I’ve cropped the pic to make it PG.

And here’s Cristiano with absolutely no visible body hair whatsoever.

Hmmmm. I may need to do more research. Perhaps the debate will just have to continue.

Aloutte

When it comes to good looking men, we’ve already established that I’m shallow. In real life when a see a gorgeous guy I have trouble with that brain/mouth connection and my eyes just don’t behave in a lady-like fashion. Nope, brain goes blank. Mouth does that fish thing. Be honest, what would you do if this guy was in front of you in line at Starbucks? (Assume he ordered a tall coffee, not a caramel non-fat soy latte with extra foam)

I have a couple of friends with farms and  ranches of various sizes and they even invite me to visit occasionally. I can imagine how much of a fool I’d sound like if I had to ask him where the south forty were.

Not that I’d mind looking a blithering idiot if I absolutely had to gawk at those abs and shoulders. Naked. Hey, I already admitted I’m shallow.

Aloutte

As I was flipping through my stash of hot guy pics, I came across one of Keanu Reeves and thought about that silly movie where Diane Keaton picks Jack Nicholson over Keanu. I said when I saw it and still believe—that just wasn’t right! Keanu’s character was gorgeous, charming, a heart surgeon, adored her, AND he took her to Paris for her birthday for dog’s sake!  Jack’s character was a jerk played by Jack. Was this woman too stupid to live or what?

Based on my vast research over many years of dating, I’ve decided handsome men can be just as wonderful people as the aesthetically challenged.  AND they look so delicious naked. Yeah, yeah, I’m shallow but there’s no way I’ll ever be so demented I think Jack is a better deal than Keanu…ever, ever, ever!

Of course, the Ultimate Perfect Man ever in cinema was Jake Brigance in A TIME TO KILL. Everything a woman could want—brilliant, loving, faithful, funny, a modern day knight in shining armor with a southern accent fighting for justice. It didn’t hurt that he looked like this:

Sigh. Off to the movies…

Aloutte

Although I adore blonds, I admit that most gorgeous men are dark haired.  A writer friend told me romances with dark haired men on their covers outsell those with blonds—which is why the ever delicious Nathan Kamp, a brunette, was her fair-haired hero.

Then I realized for the most part I like my heroes dark and dangerous.  These are fantasy men after all and I don’t have to live with them on a daily basis (the criteria for a husband/significant other has NOTHING to do with the fantasy thing). The fantasy hero is tall, dark, leanly muscular, handsome, a bit of stubble works—the alpha male with a “right here, right now, baby” attitude that sets the pulse to racing.  A masculine masterpiece like him…

Oh, yes, he looks great in jeans.

And out of them.

Time for that cold shower!

Until next week…

Aloutte

My friends, who consider themselves experts on what this blog should and should not contain, have given their opinion that Aloutte, my friend who is posting “Hot Guy Friday,” has been insufficiently introduced.

Never mind that they know her and get HGF every Friday anyway.

Nevertheless, they may have a point.

Here goes. Aloutte is a friend who is about my age. (I’ve mentioned my age once in the “Who I am” section of this blog and I’m not going to do it again.)

Like me, Aloutte is from the East Coast and grew up with hippie parents, a fact that gives us much to laugh and cry about.

She is a top professional with a financial services firm, one, by the way, which hasn’t lost money for their clients in the recent market turmoil. She is highly educated, and a wide ranging reader of both literature and romance who can dissect a book in about thirty seconds.

After a couple of false starts, she has been happily married for a decade and like me, she loves gorgeous sexy lingerie.

She started HGF” as something of a joke, but soon found all her friends loved getting the eye candy, especially on Friday after a long week at work. She describes better than I can why she does it in her first HGF post.

She’ll be posting tomorrow. Stay tuned. I always do.

I had the best intentions of branching out today to one of the all time hottest brunettes—Beiron Andersson– but current events…okay, maybe tabloid events…could not be ignored.

Yes, I’m talking about the five story high underwear advert on the front of Macy’s in downtown San Francisco. No kidding—David Beckham in nothing but Armani briefs five stories high. And the man himself was there for the unveiling or whatever they did, although he wore a suit not briefs whilst signing autographs.

All the fuss made me think—for years lingerie shows have been broadcast on TV and the internet with young busty models making a fortune strutting their stuff in push-up bras and thongs. (Not to mention making the rest of the world’s female population feel inadequate while dreaming of wearing a million dollar corset crusted in diamonds.)  So why shouldn’t Becks cash in while he still has the body to do it? And that body!! But don’t take my word for it…once again he just has to be Friday’s Hot Guy:

What more can I say?

Alouette