Nothing unusual, nothing strange, close to nothing at all
Sometimes, after a hard case or the departure of another inappropriate man, she'll snuggle a little closer to you when you're lying on the sofa together. Her hand will squeeze yours a little tighter than you expect and her head will be so deeply buried in your chest that you can feel her breath through your shirt. You think maybe she just needs reassurance that you'll always be there, like you always have.
You'll be allowed to stroke her hair for a while, staying silent as you do so, hoping the moment will never end. Eventually, she'll sit up and fetch another bottle of wine, and when she comes back, she'll allow you to put your arm around her shoulders, but it won't be the same as it was moments before, she's not quite as pressed up against you and you don't have the nerve to pull her closer in. The embrace returns to feeling like all others and you go back to being the brotherly figure.
You wonder if in her mind you're always the brother; if it's only your mind that notices the extra tight cuddle and interprets it as something other than completely platonic. You convince yourself that she doesn't read the moment like you do, that to her it is completely normal, which in turn makes you believe that it isn't anything out of the ordinary. You tell yourself that, you are so desperate to experience such a moment with her, so your mind makes it up, subconsciously.
You still enjoy it though. Even if every time it happens there's a little voice telling you to grow up and realise you'll never be anything more than friends, you enjoy how it makes you feel; maybe, one day, you'll have hugs like that every day, not just when she's upset. It sets the cogs whirling in your imagination, as you picture coming home every night to that; to her. You enjoy it, even if it is nothing.
They're your favourite hugs. Although, you don't see them as hugs...more like...windows of opportunity, which you promise yourself one day you will take advantage of.
This is what happens when you listen to Damien Rice for 2 hours.