“I think we should date. Exclusively.” He nodded firmly, his shoulders straightening as if he was just now coming to the decision. “Boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“I…” Her voice trailed off as her mind tried to catch up with what was happening. “You realize there’s a really good chance we’re going to kill each other, right?”

A hint of a smile turned up one side of his mouth and a little bit of sparkle appeared in his eyes. “I’m pretty sure we can find other ways to work out our tension.”

“My family isn’t going to get any less crazy and I don’t ever foresee getting along with them any better than I do now.”

“As long as you get along with my family, or at least attempt to, it doesn’t bother me,” he said calmly.

Sharon almost snorted. Sometimes she thought she could get along with anyone’s family other than her own. Although, she could understand why he’d ask her to at least try. When she’d met him, she’d immediately jumped to not trying because she’d felt like he disapproved of her and so she’d gone out of her way encourage that. But she really did make more of an effort for most people.

“So… you’re asking me to check yes or no?” she joked.

“Pretty much,” Jake replied, tapping his finger against his silverware nervously.

He’d caught her off guard, that much was apparent. Shocking her hadn’t been quite as much fun as it usually was because he really cared about her answer. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this nervous asking a woman out.

Then again, he couldn’t really remember the last time he’d been this uncertain of a woman’s answer.

With Sharon, it could go either way. Fuck buddies were one thing, even exclusive fuck buddies, even exclusive fuck buddies that all their friends knew about. Actually doing the relationship thing? That was a whole other ball game. There was still a part of his brain that didn’t think they could make it work, but…

They’d basically been in a relationship for weeks now, just without the title.

They spent most nights together. Not just having sex but hanging out. They got along pretty well for the most part. Sure, there were a lot of differences in their upbringing, but they had a lot in common. Sharon was more social than he was, but since she was social with the people who were also his friends, he was comfortable with that. They were exclusive. They’d gone to a wedding together. Hell, they’d even worked their way through their first fight.

The only thing they hadn’t done was go out on actual dates. They’d kind of skipped straight into the relationship.