OK, if you'll let me tell a (short) story, it's kinda related, so bear with me.
Basically, I'm a guy, and my best friend is a girl who I've known about ten months. I met her at a job I started last August, and we hit it off pretty much straight away. I found her very good-looking, so it was almost inevitable that I'd end up fancying her.
She had a boyfriend at the time, and we went from being acquaintances to good friends fairly quickly. They broke up just before Christmas, but then she and her best friend at school got together (we go to different schools). Obviously this was pretty crushing for me, but I was happy for her since he was such a nice guy. They had a great relationship (and I thought they were a brilliant couple, despite my jealousy) until they broke up about a month ago. The end result of that relationship is that she lost a boyfriend and a very good friend.
Now, at this point I still felt very strongly for her, but I was starting to think that it might not be love in a wanting-to-go-out-with-her way, but more love in a friendship sense (I apologise if this is a bit soppy). I came to realise that although I think what I'm feeling is love, and I still find her very attractive, I wouldn't want us to go out in case we broke up, then losing a fantastic friendship. We talked about it and basically decided our relationship was a lot like boyfriend/girlfriend already, only without all the problems that come with it, and the kisses. I won't deny that I would still like the kisses sometimes, but for me, now, it doesn't seem worth the risk.