I propose we stop referring to it as friends with benefits and say it like it is—a recipe for disaster.

See, it all started when I confessed a little something to my best friend. His response? Definitely something unexpected. In the best way possible. The next thing I knew I was proposing we be friends with benefits.

The rules were simple: Nothing changes in terms of our friendship. No one finds out about us. Emotions are completely out of the equation.

That becomes hard when suddenly emotions are stuck smack dab in the middle of the equation. How could I not have seen things clearly?

After all this time I'm noticing the way Dominic Deluca makes me feel (and not just during the benefits part of our relationship), how he's always there for me, and the fact that he knows me better than I know myself. Then there's my daughter. He's great with her, of course, and she loves him. But he's so much more than her uncle Dom.

Things have always been complicated between Dom and I, and being friends with benefits only made it more so. I know it would be easier to forget this ever happened and go back to the way things were, but it won't be the same. Nothing will ever be the same. As much as we didn't want them to, things changed.

I have to be honest with myself—and him. I love him. I think I've always loved him, and you'd probably agree that's not better left unsaid.