Catherine Walsh figured that she had fallen for Sam Gerard from almost the first moment she had met him. He had a magnetic allure and a take-charge personality, and the man wasn't bad on the eyes either. And there was no denying that he looked good in jeans.
But he had never asked her out, never gone further than was strictly friendly, though she had seen the looks and the glances over the years. After enough time had passed and she got to know him well enough, she realized that he cared about her, but would never do anything about it.
She had told herself she could live with that, and didn't push it. She didn't get his love, but she got his friendship and his respect, two things that might not have come her way if he had asked her out on that date. And she found herself glad that he had held himself back, because she found she valued those things very much.
But, she reflected as she leaned against his shoulder at one of the team's annual Christmas parties, all of those things together were what she valued most.
Noah caught Caro, his girlfriend of four months, under the mistletoe while the rest of the team whistled. Cath smiled as she felt Sam's lips brush her hair. "When do I get my turn?" she asked.
"I don't have to wait to be under a plant," he said.
She smiled and leaned into his kiss.
God bless us, every one.