Add Fuel to Your Romantic Fires

Keeping romance alive is sometimes a challenge for couples. Here are my top 10 tips for adding fuel to your romantic fires.

1. Act romantic and you'll feel romantic. Play the part by setting the scene with candlelight and soft music, softer words, lingerie and great smells. This creates a fanciful mood for both of you, and romance will be unavoidable.

2. Make your bedroom a romantic hideaway. Get some silk sheets and soft lights. If you don't have a lock on your bedroom door, get one.

3. Talk about sex. Give your partner a call in the middle of the day and tell your other half you can't wait to make love. Drop little sexual innuendoes and don't be afraid to ask your partner what it is he or she likes. Or say what you like.

4. Indulge your fantasy. Share your secret romantic fantasy with your partner and ask your partner to tell you his or hers. Then make plans to play them out. Just the anticipation will add to your romantic life.

5. Have a date night at least once a week. This may be the most important and most disregarded rule of romance. Keeping a date night with your partner is something that both of you can look forward to all week long. It is your special time together away from work, kids and all the other stresses of life.

6. Be creative. Relive your first date, kidnap your partner for a weekend getaway, have chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne in bed, serenade your partner (or just lip-sync to a Justin Timberlake or Jessica Simpson song). There are so many different ways to be romantic; just go with your ideas (or buy a book to get some). It's really hard to do it wrong.

7. Kiss often. Couples who kiss every day make love more than those who don't. One of the sexiest things you can do with your partner is to just spend a night making out and cuddling. Deep, romantic kissing is something that many couples forget to do. It's more important to romance than you think. If you ask most women what they would like more of in their romantic lives, they will tell you it's kissing. And men who are great kissers never want for lovemaking.

8. Let go. Give your partner total control in the romance department every once in a while. It's surprising how he or she will surprise you.

9. Compliment each other. We all wonder if our partners still find us sexy after a few years have gone by. Just telling someone how great he or she looks when you're in bed isn't enough. Compliments should take place throughout the day. This way, when it's bedtime, your partner will already feel desired and you will reap the benefits.

10. Think about sex. We all think about sex, but sometimes we forget to put our partner in the picture with us.

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