Unfurl Quotes

“I need to claim you and corrupt you and venerate you and revere you all at the same time. When I treat you like a whore, I’m paying homage to you in the filthiest way I know how. ‘You are so fucking beautiful and innocent. You’re Eve’s fucking apple in the most delicious skin I’ve ever, ever seen. You’re immaculate. I want to put you on a pedestal and admire you from afar just as I want you on the floor, writhing under me as I fuck you. ‘I knew the first time I saw you that I wouldn’t rest until you were on your knees in front of me, but I also knew you’d bring me to my knees. And look at me. You’ve done exactly that.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“It was amazing. Honestly, like porno Disneyland.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“You’re probably familiar with the three main stress responses: fight, flight and freeze. There’s a fourth. Fawn. And I’m a major fawner. Apparently, it’s a proven response among people who’ve grown up in a household with an emotionally unstable person in it, particularly an adult. I placate. I smooth over. I bend over backwards to keep the peace, because the cold dread that washes over me when someone loses their rag is as irrational as it is real,”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“Is it too early for wine?’ she asks, releasing me. ‘It’s eleven o’clock,’ I clarify. She cocks her head. ‘I’m not sure if that’s a yes or a no?”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“You need boundaries with your parents. Should have had them years ago, but it’s never too late. Unfortunately, the later you erect them, the more painful they are to enforce, but the more they will help you heal when you have them up and running. Okay? Now, repeat after me. Boundaries are the line between what is okay and what is not okay.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I mean, who needs facials and massages? Last night was like someone pressed the reset button, restored me to my factory settings, and I feel fabulous this morning.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I knew he’d be an amazing kisser, but Lord, I never imagined his kisses to be this hungry. This consuming. Like his tongue is trying to have sex with my mouth. The wet slides of his lips and the taut invasion of his tongue have that sensory overwhelm soaring.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I have to say,’ he says in a conversational tone as his hand goes to the bow of my robe and halts there, ‘it’s criminal that no man has touched you before.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“The thought gives me a jolt of determination to enjoy this experience. To own it. It feels a bit like that second when a rollercoaster starts moving, and you’re powerless to stop it, but you know it’s going to turn you inside out. And you’re game for whatever it can throw at you.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“This man. What is it about him? God, he’s so… Impressive. Dominating. Forceful. I don’t know—there’s simply this presence about him I can’t ignore. Gravitas. That’s what it is, I suppose. He’s so substantial. So masculine. I think about the inane crap guys my age spout. They’re so full of swagger and hot air. Not Rafe. He doesn’t have any of that. I could sense the first time I set eyes on him that he has no need to prove himself. His self-confidence is of the quiet variety. But I’d guess it’s unwavering. And I’d bet the reason it’s unwavering is that he’s never had any reason to doubt it. I bet he gets what he wants. Especially when it comes to women.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“So our branding company came up with Unfurl, and we all liked it. Again, it’s classy. Discreet. And the act of unfurling feels noble. Positive. And also natural. For a flower to unfurl its petals and showcase its full beauty is an inevitable act of nature and a wonderful thing. That’s its destiny, and it’s something we should be celebrating. Not curtailing.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I don’t think anyone would describe what goes down at Alchemy as romantic. But what it is… is transcendent.’ I hold her gaze. ‘Because I know you don’t know this for yourself yet, Belle, but trust me when I tell you there’s nothing more transcendent than really great sex.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“The more research we did, the more it seemed the perfect name. It has gravitas. It suggests all manner of possibilities, and we loved that. We wanted our members to feel like they could arrive as one person and leave as another, that they’d been through something transformational. ‘What did the original alchemists do? They tried to turn one material into another. They looked at matter, and they didn’t buy into the idea that its fate was necessarily to remain that way for evermore. I’d like to think we take that approach to humans.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“So why the name Alchemy?”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I just make markets. Sex is the oldest market in the world.’ ‘You mean prostitution.’ ‘Nope. I mean two people wanting what each other has. One offers, the other bids. That’s a market. Doesn’t matter what commodity you’re trading—bonds. Bananas. Sex.’ I lean in slightly, lowering my voice. ‘Take you and the Unfurl programme. You want something from our members. And believe me, they want something from you, too. There’s your market, right there.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“After all, I suppose signing up for a programme like Unfurl and selecting the most risk-averse, safe, vanilla sex possible would be like visiting the world’s greatest buffet and avoiding everything except the green salad.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“You have your own moral compass, and you are allowed to consider all the opinions around you and treat them as only that. Opinions. You get to decide for yourself what to do with your body.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“Catholicism is so defensive. It’s comply or die, seriously. The church demands absolute conformity, and it feels like any kind of attempt to think for oneself is blasphemy. Or an outright attack, basically. So the only options are wholesale surrender or wholesale rejection. That’s how it feels, anyway.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“If you take away any preconceptions about romance, or morals, or societal expectations, and you just make it about you and your body and seeing what it’s capable of, then the maths is pretty clear. Four mouths on your body are better than one. Eight hands are better than two.’ I shrug as she gapes at me. There’s mortification on her face, but something else is there, too. ‘It’s just basic arithmetic. So the more you open your mind up to less vanilla ways of maximising your pleasure, the more fun you’ll have. And by fun, I mean the more you’ll lose your fucking mind in ecstasy.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I also know that former Catholics are some of the kinkiest people I know. Just an observation. There’s something about all that shame and guilt they teach us, all that repression they practice, that has us enjoying the pleasure of letting go more than most other people.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I get a vivid image of Belle curled up on a sofa in her parents’ flat with our questionnaire on an iPad, her tiger eyes widening in disbelief or arousal, that plump lower lip cushioning the stylus as she reads the option upon option of pure filth that awaits her. It’s less a menu than a dirty, decadent smorgasbord for her to feast on.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“They may not have had much real life experience, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a vibrant inner life of sexual fantasy. It’s kind of like saying the intern at a company is the stupidest person in the room. They may be the most ignorant right now, but they may have more future potential than the CEO. ‘We take a similar approach. We want to help people find their potential, unlock their latent desires, rather than focusing on what they haven’t done to date.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“She’s intact. Ignorant of how transcendent certain parts of the human experience can be.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“You were very mysterious when I answered the door,’ I tell her, shooting her a smile that I hope telegraphs you can trust me rather than I want to fuck your twenty-two-year-old cunt.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I’m thirty-six. That makes her fourteen years younger than me. If she was four years younger, she’d be half my age. Jesus.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“I’ll feel better if she knows some of her neighbours when we’re away, she said. She didn’t mention her precious daughter was every man’s darkest fantasies in human form.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“In case I’m not clear, in all scenarios at my club—which, incidentally but certainly not accidentally, hails by the name of Alchemy—I’m the damned. No matter where on the scale my partner—or partners, if I’m honest—may fall.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“Pupil and teacher. Mentee and mentor. If one was of a religious inclination, one might even call it the innocent and the damned.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“The trust that you will safeguard them. Protect them. All the while showing them what is possible. Teaching them to fly. To soar. Giving them the gift of transcendence.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl

“At its most elementary, the market that fascinates me is the coming together of two people who both want satisfaction. But satisfaction is a base concept. A transactional one. I can do better than that. The ultimate market-making skill is bringing together two people who each have a currency the other wants. A currency that can bring the other not mere satisfaction. But transcendence. Alchemy. This perfect pairing of currencies is regularly on offer in my exclusive club. The experience of one party. And the innocence of the other. There’s nothing an innocent craves more than the assurance of being in safe hands. Of being cosseted in the proficient cocoon of a veteran. A pro. Shown the ropes, as it were. Figuratively or literally.”
― Elodie Hart, Unfurl