Jason Tartick on Living With Kaitlyn Bristowe in the Home She Shared With Ex Shawn Booth (Exclusive)

Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick just took the next step in their relationship.

The couple, who started dating earlier this year, have moved in together at Bristowe’s Nashville home — the one she shared with her ex-fiance, Shawn Booth.

“We talked about this before moving in,” Bristowe told ET’s Lauren Zima of the situation during a sit-down interview with Tartick on Tuesday. “It always felt like mine, to the point where even when the breakup happened, [Booth] was like, ‘Obviously this is your house. Like, you did this.’ So it just feels like something that — it doesn’t have bad energy or bad juju in there.”

“It just feels like it’s my design and then we’re going to make it our own,” she continued, explaining that she’s redone the first floor of the home, but plans to fix up the rest with Tartick. “And we’re selling it because I had always planned to sell it anyways, because the Nashville market is hot! I’ve always planned on selling it.”

Tartick doesn’t seem to mind the situation. “Half the home is untouched,” he stated matter-of-factly, adding that he’s happy to help his girlfriend with renovations before they sell it and find a new home together. The transition has also allowed the pair to expand their family; Tartick and Bristowe recently rescued a golden retriever named Ramen.

“We rescued the dog, we moved in together, so we’re doing it all at once. We’re learning how we parent… so it’s a crash course and it’s going well,” Tartick said.

“I feel like we just had the confidence in our relationship [to do it all at once],” Bristowe added. “I feel like we’re such a good team… we work very well together, and there’s no competition. It’s like, we’re both super happy for each other when we have things going on, and we help each other and don’t feel like there’s any kind of competition.”

The Off the Vine podcast host said her boyfriend “softens me up.” “He makes me all soft. Sometimes, I just get emotional with where I’m at, and what took me there. I’m just really happy!” she gushed.

Bristowe and Tartick connected after he appeared on her podcast last fall, but the Bachelorette alum made sure to give Bristowe her space until after she healed from her breakup from Booth. (The pair announced they ended their engagement in November, three years after he proposed on her 2015 season of The Bachelorette.)

“Looking back now, I’m like, ‘Maybe I was a little lost! Maybe I didn’t understand how I felt,’” Bristowe recalled. “Now I just feel so confident in my feelings, and I think it’s hard to come off that show, to be honest. You want something to work because it’s the show, and you want it to be right, but it just wasn’t right, and that’s what it all comes down to.”

“I think so many people are afraid of change, and they’re afraid to take risks and sacrifice and — I think in both of our situations, we had to make change to find one another,” Tartick chimed in.

“I was in a really, really dark place for a while, just so confused. When you’re in that place, you think the world is ending and you’re just so sad,” Bristowe added of her breakup with Booth. “And then weeks later, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I always say that on my podcast… you don’t know what’s around the corner. You just don’t.”

As for Booth’s January appearance on on Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti’s Almost Famous: In Depth podcast — during which he addressed his and Bristowe’s breakup and admitted to having a “tough time” with her moving on so fast with Tartick — Bristowe simply said her ex’s comments were “interesting.”

“I didn’t really want to talk about it, just because there’s two sides to every story… So when he did the podcast, we talked about it, and like, ‘He can have his own feelings, and I can know the truth, and he can have his truth, and it just doesn’t matter at the end of the day.’ I was like, ‘Do I address anything on my podcast?’ But I had moved forward already, so I just didn’t want to go backwards at all,” she shared. “So no, [Booth and I] don’t talk.”

“We have a unique relationship in the fact that I think we both have seen a lot, we’ve done a lot, we’ve experienced the good, bad and ugly in relationships, and I think as you mature, you know what you want,” Tartick said of where he and Bristowe are now. “With Kaitlyn and I, we kind of have a no BS kind of attitude. We put everything out there. We’re very transparent and very forthcoming with everything. Sometimes that leads to almost too much of open communication, but at the end of the day, we hold nothing back, and it allows us to grow as a team. It’s been awesome.”

The Buffalo native has also supported Bristowe through her new business endeavors. In addition to her podcast, she recently launched a scrunchie line and is creating her own wine label, Spade and Sparrows.

“Honestly, it is a dream come true. I’m not just saying that,” Bristowe said. “Since I’ve had my first sip of wine ever in life, I was like, ‘This is what I’m supposed to be doing.’ Like, everything in my life has lead me to have a wine label, this man… we’ve arrived!”
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