It looks like things are starting to heat up between former Bachelor contestant Lauren Bushnell and country singer Chris Lane. The two were first photographed together on the red carpet at the 66th Annual BMI Country Awards in Nashville. Since then, Chris has opened up even more about his new girlfriend. During an interview with iHeartCountry during the 2018 Country Music Awards, Chris cleared up any confusion by saying, “Confirmed. I am [dating Lauren].”

Chris explained that the romance blossomed slowly. He said, “We’ve been friends for a long time and we’ve kind of kept in touch. We met — funny story — at an iHeart show… like years and years ago, but we were just friends for all that time and the recently started spending some time together and realized we actually enjoy each other.” I mean, it’s not exactly a “funny story” as Chris described, but it is really sweet.

“She’s awesome,” Chris gushed. “I love somebody who’s got a good personality and she’s got one of the best personalities I’ve ever seen. She’s top notch. She makes me laugh … I don’t know about you, but I just found my take back home girl.” Props to Chris for quoting his own song, “Take Back Home Girl.”

Chris Lane Lauren Bushnell dating CMA Awards
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Lauren broke things off with her last beau, Devin Antin, in August. The two were also friends before taking the next step, but Lauren admitted during their relationship that she wished she would’ve taken things even slower after such a public break up with her ex Ben Higgins, who she got engaged to on the finale of The Bachelor in 2016.

She told ET, “In hindsight, I wish I would have taken a little bit more time, but that’s the way it went.” She continued, “I do feel bad, because I went through a very hard, public breakup, and I do think I brought a lot of those emotions into me and Devin’s relationship at the beginning. So it’s definitely been, like, a roller coaster of a ride.”

Live and learn, right? Lauren definitely looks like she’s more than ready to start an exciting new relationship. Best of luck to the new couple!

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