CHAPTER 1

"I'm so sorry, dad! My flight was grounded! I don't think I'm going to be home in time!" 26 year old Samantha Larusso said into her phone, as she spoke to her father. It was Christmas Eve, and Sam was planning to spend Christmas with her family in the warmth of Los Angeles. However, instead, she was stuck in Virginia Airport, sheltering from the colossal blizzard outside. Sam lived in New York, and she had planned to fly home to L.A with a layover in Virginia, but her flight had been grounded in Virginia due to weather, and probably wouldn't be taking off anytime soon. Samantha was a child psychiatrist. She loved being around kids, and she had dedicated her life to make the lives of those around her easier. For the first time in her whole life, she wouldn't be spending Christmas with her family, and she was devastated.

"It's okay, Sam." Her father, Daniel Larusso, replied. "Just stay safe and out of the cold, okay? I'll see you soon."

"Bye, dad." Sam said, before hanging up the phone and sighing. She looked around the airport at all of the other disappointed people. None of them would be getting on their flight that night. It was snowing too hard.

Sam decided to leave the airport, rather than sleep the night there. The blizzard could last for several days, if not a week, and there was NO way she was staying in the airport for that long. She made it out the front door, and she was immediately almost thrown backwards by the force of the wind. The wind was howling like a wolf in front of a full moon, and snow attacked her face. Sam ducked her head down and stumbled over to a taxi. The taxi driver smiled at her as she sat inside and threw her handbag beside her.

"Hey, ma'am. Happy Christmas Eve! Where can I take you today?"

"Um… could you please take me to the nearest bar? I need a drink." Sam stated. The driver chuckled and nodded, before starting to drive.

"Rough day?" He asked. Sam nodded.

"Yeah, like you wouldn't believe." She grumbled.

"Aww, I'm sorry. We all have 'em." The driver replied. A couple of minutes later, he parked the car and turned back to Sam. "Here we are. That'll be 5 bucks ma'am." The driver said.

Sam paid the man, wished him a Merry Christmas and stepped out of the taxi. She then looked up at the bar in front of her. It was called MacLaren's Pub, and it looked like a relatively safe bar. Anyways, it wasn't like she had a choice. With every second she spent outside, she could feel her joints freezing from the cold, so she ran into the warmth of the bar…

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A couple of hours later, Miguel Diaz walked into MacLaren's Pub, his favourite bar in Virginia. It was his 26th Christmas Eve of his lifetime, and this one was probably one of the most depressing Christmases he had had in years. Miguel was a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy, and a highly respected one too. He had enlisted right after high school graduation as his family didn't have enough money for college, and he had flown through the rigorous Navy SEAL training program and had become a SEAL Team 2 member before he had even turned 23. Despite the fact that Miguel had spent nearly 2 and a half years in SEAL training, he had already made a name for himself in the Navy as one of the youngest Chief Petty Officers in the Navy to date. Miguel had been on 4 missions in his career so far: 2 hostage extractions and two capture or kill missions, and in that time, he had proven to be an excellent leader, an extremely mentally and physically strong soldier, not to mention an ace sharpshooter.

However, Miguel didn't let his potential and reputation in the Navy get to his head. He was one of the most down-to-earth people in his SEAL Team, and he worked harder than every single one of them. He was also kind, compassionate and respectful towards others, something a few of some of the neanderthal, big-headed SEALs in his platoon lacked. Most of it was because of how he was raised. For the first 15 years of his life, Miguel was raised by just his mother and his grandmother, and then at the age of 16, Miguel's amazing stepfather - a man named Johnny Lawrence - walked into his life and truly taught Miguel how to be a man.

That week, Miguel had just come back from his latest mission in Al Fallujah, Iraq and he had requested a 30 day vacation. Miguel hadn't taken a single day off in nearly a year and a half, so of course the Navy approved his request. He needed the break, and he was planning on flying back to Reseda, California, where he was raised, to see his family but the weather had quickly put a stop to that. He was okay though. He had an apartment in Virginia as that was where his SEAL team headquarters were when he wasn't on mission, and he would just have to spend Christmas by himself then.

MacLaren's Pub was right underneath Miguel's apartment so he decided to go grab a beer there. He walked into the bar/restaurant and after dumping his coat on the coat rack, he walked over and sat on a high chair at the front of the bar. He then looked down the bar at the only other two people in the bar during the blizzard: a gorgeous young brunette woman who looked about his age, and the bartender who was hitting on her.

Miguel watched, entertained, as the bartender tangled a piece of mistletoe over the girl's head as the girl glared at the man, not scared but just uncomfortable with the attention as she tried to eat her dinner.

"Come on! It's Christmas Eve! There's mistletoe! It's the law! You need to kiss me." The bartender said. Miguel couldn't help but chuckle loudly at the bartender's remark, and both the girl and the bartender turned towards him. Because this was Miguel's favourite bar in the city, he knew the bartender extremely well. His name was Charlie, and although he could be sometimes disrespectful in his conquests with women, he was a nice guy. Charlie glared at Miguel when he saw him laughing.

"Something funny, Diaz?" He snapped. Miguel shrugged.

"Charlie, buddy, you know what I bet this lady wants for Christmas? Some peace and quiet." Miguel remarked. "Me on the other hand… I could use a beer."

Charlie sighed and went to go and fetch Miguel a beer, leaving just Miguel and Samantha at the bar. Sam glanced at him, and she immediately noticed that he was very attractive, but he was extremely understated. He wore unbranded clothes, a baseball cap that covered most of his face, and his posture was hunched forward in a slightly shy way.

"Thanks. Been a lousy day." She said as she cut her steak. "This'll be the first time I haven't been home for Christmas in… well, ever."

Miguel looked at her and he admired how beautiful she was. Her eyes were piercingly blue, her caramel hair gracefully fell down her shoulders, but the most striking thing about her was her smile. Despite the fact that she had just had an awful day, her smile was still radiant, and it brightened the whole empty bar.

"You're still smiling. That's something." Miguel commented.

"So that's my excuse for drinking alone this Christmas. What's yours?" She asked. Miguel chuckled.

"Same as yours actually. I was meant to go home for Christmas for the first time in 3 years but I guess God wasn't having it and decided to ground my flight." Miguel replied.

"I'm so sorry." Sam said, sympathetically. Miguel shrugged.

"Eh. What happens, happens. Besides, I'm not drinking alone now, am I?" Miguel replied, nodding faintly at her. She couldn't help but smile wider at him and laugh.

After ending a 2 year relationship with her ex-boyfriend Robby Keene a couple of months ago, Sam had sworn off guys. She had found out that Robby had cheated on her multiple times, hence the break up, and although she had completely moved on with her life, she didn't want dating to be a priority. Her priority was the kids she worked with in New York as part of her job. They were the most important people in her life, and she was happy with that. She didn't want some guy ruining that happiness. However, there was something about this guy that she couldn't resist. Although his muscles practically rippled through his shirt, that wasn't what Sam was attracted to. Sam always found the most attractive part of a person their eyes as by looking into someone's eyes, you could tell everything about them as a person. This man's eyes were extremely kind, yet soulful. Like he had seen horrific things in his life, but he wasn't letting it affect who he was.

"No, you're not." She replied. "I'm Sam, by the way. Sam Larusso."

"Miguel Diaz." The man said, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you…"

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"So where'd you grow up? Where's home for you?" Miguel asked her. Because the two were the only two people in the bar and Charlie had conveniently disappeared, they had the whole bar to themselves.

"Well, I grew up in Encino, in L.A. I lived there for most of my life until I moved to New York for college. I live there now." Sam said. "What about you?"

"Um… I'm Ecuadorian-American so I was born in Ecuador and I spent the first 12 years in my life there. My family and I then moved to a town pretty close to Encino. We moved to Reseda when I was thirteen."

"No way! You lived in Reseda? What school'd you go to?" Sam asked, eagerly.

"West Valley High. You?" Miguel asked.

"I went to West Valley too!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel's eyes widened as he finally remembered Sam.

"Wait… you're that Sam Larusso?" Miguel asked. "I think I remember you."

"Oh, yeah! You're that Miguel Diaz!" Sam said, despite the fact that she had no clue who he was. Miguel laughed and raised an eyebrow.

"You do realise you're not fooling anyone, right? You have no idea who I am." Miguel stated.

"What? No! Of course I do!" Sam said, unconvincingly. Miguel laughed again.

"It's fine. I don't think we exchanged two words the whole time we went to school together." Miguel replied. "You were one of the popular girls I seem to remember, and I… well, I was a straight-up nerd."

Sam raised an eyebrow and tried hard not to stare at Miguel's muscles. It was difficult, given that they took up most of his body.

"You were a nerd?" Sam asked, surprised, as she admired his incredible physique. "Well, I apologise on behalf of all of my old friends for anything we did back then."

Miguel laughed.

"Yeah, no hard feelings. It's only been what? 8 years now? Life's pretty great for me now. After high school, I enlisted in the Navy so I've gotten to see the world."

"You're in the military?" She asked. She wasn't too surprised to be honest. His basic haircut, unbranded clothes, ripped physique… it all screamed military.

"Yes, ma'am." Miguel replied, saluting her playfully.

"Well, thank you for your service." She said.

"And thank you for paying the tax dollars that pays my salary." Miguel replied. "So, excited for Christmas tomorrow?"

Sam laughed mirthlessly.

"Yeah. I'm alone. I've got nowhere to stay. Real fun Christmas." She remarked.

"Well, if you want, you can crash at my place tonight." Miguel offered. "It's right upstairs and it's got a couch."

Sam looked at him, unsure.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be an imposition." Sam said. Miguel shook his head.

"I'm drinking alone, in a bar, on Christmas Eve. I think that says enough about how sad my life is to prove that it's no imposition at all." Miguel remarked, drily. Sam laughed and beamed widely at him.

"Thank you so much." She replied. "You know, this is shaping up to be not as bad a Christmas as I thought."

Miguel smiled faintly and nodded.

"Yeah, not bad at all…"