I'm falling for my EX's dad

I'm sure I'm going to get some negative comments, but hear me out. I'm unsure if we should pursue a relationship. We both want to and it feels like the right thing to do for us, but I can't get passed the fact that I dated his son and that makes me feel so wrong about this whole thing. That's where I need you. Give me your advice. Before anyone asks, yes, he is single. I'm 26 and he is 44.

So let's back up. I dated my ex, Tony, for a year and a half. While we were dating, I became really close with his entire family, especially his dad, Mark. Not in an inappropriate way at all, we just became good friends. We never spent time together alone, just at family gatherings or when Tony and I would hang out with him. It was all completely innocent. Never even had a thought about having feelings for Mark.

Almost a year ago, I found out Tony had been cheating on me for the majority of our relationship. Obviously, I broke up with him right away. I'm not all that close with my family, and my friends were not too helpful during this, so Mark is really the only person I could turn to.

Mark has cut off all ties with Tony. Along with the cheating, he has made some other poor life choices and Mark wants nothing to do with who Tony has become. So since we broke up, Mark has been there for me. He would check up on me and occasionally we would go get lunch. We felt like just because I broke up with his son, doesn't mean we should just throw our friendship away. I still go to family gatherings (Tony does not) and I'm still close with the whole family. It has all been innocent up until the last few months. Although we had not taken action on our feelings, they have been growing and we have been spending more and more time together. We just have this connection I can't explain.

Yesterday, Mark came over for dinner and he opened up to me. He told me he never intended to fall for me, but he has and he can't help it. I had to admit that I have feelings for him as well. We talked about it for a little while and agreed that things feel natural between us, but we can't ignore the fact that I dated Tony. It's like it's not an issue for us, but we know it's not normal and we are more concerned about the opinions of others. Not so much the family, just in general I guess.

We decided to take a couple days to ourselves to think about it and then we will talk in a few days.

As he was leaving, I walked him to the door and we kissed. It felt like the most natural thing. I have never experienced a kiss like that before. I could feel my toes curl.

We really care for each other and can't help the feelings we have developed. He's genuinely such a great man, the type of man I always hoped for. I just need some advice from an outside perspective.

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It's not a daddy/daughter thing. There's nothing dirty between us. He wasn't being persistent with keeping me in his life. We both became friends and I'm the one who reached out to him first after the breakup. It was all a mutual thing. I'm really not concerned about his family. They have even commented on how close we have become. A couple family members have given us looks, like knowingly, approving, type of looks. They have joked around about us. I feel like they are kind of waiting around for us to get together. Like they already know. Like they knew before we even did.