I never knew being thrown on a bed could be so thrilling. His hands threw off my sweatshirt, furiously kissing down my neck leaving me rather breathless as his fingers slipped past my waistband. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't hear notifications, and for once in my life I felt totally at peace.

"Erin!" We both froze hearing Isabelle's voice calling from right outside the door. "Shit" I whispered pushing him off of me and grabbing the sweatshirt "Erin," he groaned rubbing his forehead, I leaned over and kissed his lips "she's your daughter," pulling myself away from him I opened the door and scooped Isabelle up into my arms.

"Hey cutie did you have a good nap?" I walked us into the kitchen going to make a cup of tea "where Daddy?" I grabbed a coffee mug smiling as I saw Jake walk out of my bedroom out of the corner of my eye "he's right there!" I pointed behind us and she whipped her head around squealing trying to reach for him as he got closer "daddy!" She shouted lunging at him when he got close enough. "Looks like someone should be in gymnastics classes," I laughed as she curled herself around him before looking back at me "ice cream!" Jake furrowed his brow at me "I may have promised her ice cream if you won the game..." he bit his lip glancing back at Isabelle before smiling at me "so let's get some ice cream."

Handing them bowls as I sat down on the couch as the tv played the recap on the baseball game. Isabelle snuggled up in Jakes arms digging into her ice cream. Keeping an adequate amount of space between us I tried to keep my eyes off of Jake, but all I wanted was to be next to him. "Come here..." he whispered holding his arm out, making a space for me. In that moment I really saw just how complicated this was going to get, because whatever we do, Isabelle will always be there... she'll always be a factor... and I'm not going to let her get hurt because we were dumb. "Come on," he grabbed my hand encouraging me to come closer. Finally moving into the space he made I got that sense of peace again as we all sat there silently eating the ice cream. I got the feeling that he was looking at me so I looked up at him before he leaned down me kissed my forehead "you good?" I rested my head against his chest "yeah.... yeah," if only I could convince myself.

Ten minutes later Jake had fallen asleep leaving me sitting there, confused and dealing with three bowls of half melted ice cream. I glanced over and found Isabelle asleep also, so I wiggled the bowl out of her hands and walked them all into the kitchen. I stood over the sink staring out the window wondering if I was being incredibly naive. Being with Jake isn't just being with Jake... I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Jake standing there rubbing his eyes "Erin are we ok?" I leaned against the counter crossing my arms "yeah, I'm just tired, I had a long day," he nodded rubbing the back of his neck "I guess we should get going... what are you doing tomorrow night?" I shrugged "nothing," "perfect, we'll call it our first date." I opened my mouth to say something but didn't know what to say as he leaned in to kiss me. "Jake, have you..." he kissed me again making me half forget what I was going to say anyway. "Tomorrow," he whispered rubbing my back as I rested my head on his shoulder "Jake have you considered what happens if our families found out?" "What do you mean," "they have Beach houses right next to each other... and... clam bakes and," "Erin what are you concerned about?" "I'm worried that whenever this inevitably crashes and burns because according to my mother I sabotage every relationship I've ever been in... that I will be blamed for what will inevitably cause a rift between our families and turn into some ridiculous neighborhood myth and hedge growing height competition" He pulled back a little to look me in the eyes "Erin you're joking right? That is ridiculous... because if anything I'll screw whatever this is up," I nodded a little bit "I would really appreciate it if you could be the one to fuck up... it would mean the world to me." "How about we don't fuck it up in general?" Laying my head back against his chest I just sighed "if only it were that simple." He ran a hand through my hair "it can be if we let it..." I glanced back over at Isabelle fast asleep on my couch "Jake I'm worried I'm not emotionally mature enough to be in a relationship with a man who has a child," he cocked his head to the side "first of all by saying that I think it proves you are... second of all what makes you think I am?" I looked at my feet before he tilted my head back up to look him in the eyes "I want you Erin... I want you in my life, in my bed, by my side...we can fuck up together," he closed his statement with a kiss and then sighed looking back at Isabelle sleeping on the couch "I really don't want to wake her," I smirked a little "is that your way of saying you want to spend the night?" He pulled me in closer and got this needing sort of look in his eye "I would like to finish what I started"