10 Sexiest Television Moments We’re Still Secretly Thinking About

Similar to You, which was based on a best-selling book and adapted for television, Normal People had readers turning each page with bated breath as we tried to make sense of the sorted relationship between main characters Marianne and Connell. Author Sally Rooney found immediate success with her book that was swiftly optioned for a television series. In the show, viewers indulged in steamy sex scenes that proved Marianne’s (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell’s (Paul Mescal) intimate relationship played out just as hot on the screen as it did between the pages. Let’s just say it! There’s a lot of sex in this show, and the writers certainly did not hold back, making it difficult to nail down the best of the best. For the sake of argument, we’re going to go ahead and say that all of the bedroom scenes between the two characters in episode six takes the cake, which makes sense as it was the episode right before things took a turn for the worse.

Picking the steamiest scene from Riverdale has turned out to be one of life’s biggest challenges; after all, the options are aplenty, but we’re confident this is the “the one.” After several episodes of annoying anticipation, we finally arrive at the moment where Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) decide to take it all off. In a scene that is equally sweet as it is sensual, Betty straddles Jughead on his couch and barely flinches when he begins to take her dress off. She stops for a moment because one of her many secrets is burning a hole in her delicate heart. And just when we think she is about to share one of her demons with Juggie, she reconsiders and instead tells him, “I want all of you … tonight.” End scene.

Another first sex scene that had us all hot bothered takes us back to a place where innocence still existed in spicy teen dramas. Dawson’s Creek never shied away from difficult topics and teen experiences, and sex was always high at the top of the list. But the agony of waiting for television’s best couple (I said what I said!) to finally do the deed was huge. In A Winter’s Tale, we find Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Joey (Katie Holmes) on a school ski trip where bad boy Drew has arranged for the couple to share a room. This scenario places immense pressure on Joey to finally give Pacey what he’s been waiting for. The moment begins before bedtime when Pacey brushes Joey’s hair for her (hot!), and she quickly lets him know she’s ready. From there we bear witness to what is possibly the sweetest, most endearing first time ever played out on screen, creating a false (but sweet) illusion of what losing your virginity could be like IRL.

It’s actually impossible to pick the sexiest scene in The L Word. There’s more sex than anything else across all six seasons, making picking the most worthy of all the scenes a hot-button issue. Is it the first time Marina seduces Jenny? Those times Bette and Tina ended a fight in the bedroom? Or basically, anytime Shane is on the screen? In the interest of choosing a moment we can all (mostly?) agree on, we’re going to go ahead and say it’s the moment in season two when Alice (Leisha Hailey) and Dana (Erin Daniels) take their secret relationship to new lengths with a variety of sexual positions, toys and … foods. It’s reminiscent of 9 ½ Weeks, which is, as we know, one of the hottest films to ever be made about sex.

Oh, Gossip Girl. It provided hours of unfiltered entertainment and taught us what it was really like to be young, rich, and incredibly selfish. It also graced us with some seriously hot scenes over the course of its six-season run, but nothing was juicer than the budding relationship between residence badasses Chuck (Ed Westwick) and Blair (Leighton Meester). In the seventh episode of the first season, we find Blair finally realizing that Nate isn’t the one after she asks him if he still loves her, and he says nothing. She accepts a ride home in Chuck’s limo and leans in for the hottest kiss to ever take place in a limo with lingerie. This scene marked the beginning of the most excruciating “will they, won’t they” arc of the series until Chuck finally told Blair those three little words with eight letters.

Another series that had us screaming at the screen for two characters to get together was the adorkable New Girl. There’s no arguing that Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) were going to get it on eventually, but it was the scene where the future couple has their first kiss that truly made us melt. During episode fifteen in season two, Jess forces her roommates and their dates to come to her rescue when she’s left alone in the apartment and hears noises. The group begins a series of party games that places Nick and Jess in an awkward position to kiss, which they just as awkwardly avoid doing. By the tail end of the episode, the two characters bump into each other before bed, and Nick pulls Jess in for a kiss so incredibly romantic that we as the audience couldn’t help but replay it over and over.

Beth (Christina Hendricks) and Rio (Manny Montana) have mad chemistry from the very beginning of Good Girls, so it was incredibly fulfilling when the two finally gave in to the sexual tension during episode four in season two. We knew they would eventually have to have sex for the show to continue on its given path, but it was a bit shocking to see it happen so soon. While having drinks with her husband Dean, Beth spots Rio at the same bar and makes eyes with him until excusing herself to head to the bathroom. Once there, Rio meets her from behind and well, you know the rest, and if you don’t — check out Good Girl to feed your curiosity.

The finale episode in season two of Suits is as sexy as it is scandalous. Playing off the sexual tensions that existed since the pilot between Rachel and Mike, we find the two characters locked in a filing room where Rachel (Meghan Markle) berates Mike (Patrick J. Adams) about his lack of support for her attempt to get into Harvard Law School. Mike finally admits to Rachel that he’s a fraud who's been lying because he never actually attended Harvard and couldn't risk his job to help her. She slaps him a few times for being a lying jerk, and he responds by aggressively kissing her and taking her clothes off before they do it against the shelves full of filing boxes. It’s provocative and satisfying and definitely made us question whether betrayal is the perfect method of foreplay.

If you’re a fan of Bridgerton, then you’ve likely already spent countless hours reliving the sexiest scenes through rankings found across the internet. This hit show smacked all of us in the face with the sex we didn’t know we needed to see on a television screen, and thanks to Netflix, that was more than possible for a wide audience. But of all the scenes we’re still drooling over as we lie awake a night in bed, there’s one that stands above the rest, and it doesn’t include sex, well, at least not in the traditional sense. In episode three, the Duke (Regé-Jean Page) slowly and gracefully explains to Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) that at night, she can touch herself in places that give her pleasure — Nuff said!

It’s easy to toss Sex and the City on this list, but picking the perfect stand-alone scene isn’t so simple. The show is full of interesting sexcapades and stimulating moments, but perhaps nothing is sexier (or more questionable) than the relationship between Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth). After finding love with Aiden, Carrie may finally be able to get over Big, but there he is — ready to swoop in and ruin everything. Big spends the bulk of episode nine in season three telling Carrie that his marriage is over and he wants her back. Carrie denies her urges but ultimately ends up in an elevator with Big in the hottest pre-sex scene to ever hit the series.