Social psychologists and communication specialists have much to say about personal space. The essence of this idea is that we tend to maintain different distances between ourselves and the people with whom we have contact, depending on our relationship (actual or desired) to them. The intimate space to which we admit close friends and lovers restricts contact much less than the distance we maintain between ourselves and people we do not know or like.
When someone attempts to decrease interpersonal distance, it is generally interpreted as a nonverbal sign that she or he is attracted to the other person or would like more intimate contact. Conversely, if someone withdraws when another person moves close, this action can usually be interpreted as a lack of interest or a gentle kind of rejection.
Lovers, whose interpersonal distance is generally at a minimum, can use such spatial cues to signal desire for intimacy. When your lover moves in close, making his or her body available for your touches or caresses, the message of wanting physical intimacy (not necessarily sex) is apparent. Similarly, when he or she curls up on the other side of the bed, it may be a way of saying, "Please don’t come too close tonight." ©