I’d say bad boy but I’m talking about an archetype here and I’m going to demonstrate the point with Clive Owen, who is in no sense of the word, a boy.

But let’s start with Clive the gentleman shall we? Oh look at him, suave and smelling good. You know that suit fits him within an inch of his life. He knows which fork to use and he drives a very nice car. This man would never, ever wear ratty underwear.

But make no mistake, he’s not tamed. No, the bad man will show this face when he needs to, to make partner or to charm a client. But he’s still bad underneath.

Now here, the bad man shows through a bit more. It’s in his eyes and the set of those naughty, carnal lips. This man would quite happily bend you over the hood of that sports car and fuck you silly.

And you’d love it, too.

The bad man archetype is popular in romance and more especially, erotic romance for a reason – we all want one. No, we don’t want a womanizer (ick). We don’t want a jerk or an asshole. We want the man who’ll clean up nice for our parents, who remembers our birthday and anniversary, but who isn’t afraid to hold our wrists above our heads and give us a sharp nip on the side of the neck either.

The warrior, the barely leashed feral nature, the sense that anything could happen at any time – that’s the appeal of the bad man. Yum