In the beginning, friends of Alex Rodriguez thought his romance with Jennifer Lopez was simply a short-term thing.
They were wrong. It's getting serious in a hurry.
"All his friends can tell he really likes J.Lo [but] in the beginning they thought this may just be a fling," a source told E! News. "Friends are slowly thinking this may actually be a great match. He calls J.Lo his lady. He would wife her up in a heartbeat… She is different than other people he's dated."
J. Rod, as the tabloids have dubbed them, has a "crazy" connection and they are "always all over each other when they are out," E!'s source said.
Earlier this month, news broke that the superstar singer and former baseball stud had been secretly dating for months. He had actually been seen backstage a few times at her wildly popular Las Vegas show, "All I Have," but few seemed to connect the dots.
While J.Lo has her Vegas show and her "Shades of Blue" TV series, Alex is a special instructor for the New York Yankees, so they're both busy people.
"He has some free time [right now]," the source said. "So he's been living the life and enjoying time with J.Lo."
Recently, she was seen at a Yankees spring training game in Florida supporting her man. They also recently went on a weekend getaway to the Bahamas.
Jen's last boyfriend, Casper Smart, was 18 years her junior, but she "likes the idea of dating a man closer to her age," the source said, adding that "Jennifer and Alex are heating up big time. They went from zero to 100 really quick."
"Jennifer likes the idea of dating a man closer to her age," the source continued. "Jennifer is really into Alex but still just going with it and learning about him…This very likely may turn into a relationship."