Introduction Romantic relationships must start with attraction. The question about what women seem to like in their male partners has continued to generate interest over the years. Relationship experts and psychologists advance different theories on attraction and relationship development in trying to respond to this question. Some researchers report that women value qualities such as intelligence, physique (height), education, stability, and social skills among others (Jones & Paulhus, 2011). Also, traits such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopaths (the Dark Triad) seem to correlate with “opportunistic short-term mating strategy for men” (Jonason, Li & Buss, 2010, p. 63). Typically, sociologists and psychologists regard these qualities to be maladaptive and socially repulsive (Regoli, Hewitt & DeLisi, 2011). This then begs the question: why do women seem to be attracted to men who are so egocentric, extroverted and manipulative? Men with the dark triad traits cannot sustain a long-term relationship; instead, the dark triad traits make them socially exploitative. Jonson, Li, and Buss (2010) suggest that attributes such as extraversion and power represent particular qualities that may give a man an advantage in the dating arena, at least in the short-term. This paper uses the sexual strategies and human evolutionary mating theories to explore the dark triad attributes and how they modulate short-term relationships. The Dark Triad and Relationships Narcissism, psychopathy (subclinical) and Machiavellianism (the Dark Triad) represent an exploitative strategy that works well in the short-term. Machiavellians show manipulative behaviors while psychopaths tend to be adventure-seeking and have little empathy for others (Jones & Paulhus, 2011). On the other hand, narcissistic people seek status, recognition, prestige, and attention. According to O’Boyle et al. (2012), these three traits correlate in terms of the level of aggression and self-aggrandizement and as such, can be viewed as a distinguishable social orientation. Specifically, researchers have shown that the Dark Triad facilitates a social strategy that is exploitative in the short-term (Jones & Paulhus, 2010). For example, Machiavellian people are charming but show exploitative behavior (Chamorro-Premuzic, Stumm & Furnham, 2011). Narcissists show a strong desire for fame and power and have low levels of shame or remorse while psychopaths demonstrate their exploitative nature through irresponsibility and impulsive behaviors. It should be noted that the Dark Triad qualities demonstrate a high degree of self-centeredness and little empathy for others, attributes that make them exploitative in most social contexts. In light of this, people who have any of the three Dark Triad qualities lack the ability to develop long-term relationships, which requires commitment and constant reciprocity among the partners (Campbell & Miller, 2011).). A study by Jakobwitz and Egan (2006) established that people tend to avoid self-serving and self-centered people, as these qualities make them undesirable for stable and long-term relationships. Thus, potential partners interested in long-term relationships will tend to avoid people with the Dark Triad