3. Dale

3

DALE

A loud snap and a heavy bang against the house startles me awake and I launch straight up in the wingback chair I'm sitting in. I wanted to be ready for anything that may come our way because the bruises and markings the young woman sports are from somebody dangerous and like hell I'm going to let anything further happen to her.

I grab the fire poker leaning on the table and move to check the house. I hate that I don't have my handgun on me, but I'm on vacation and didn't want any hassles with carrying it.

The woman is sound asleep, and she shouldn't be sleeping so much, but the few times I check on her, she bats me away, not fully waking up. She probably won't remember me doing it, but she was bleeding from her head, and she's bound to have a concussion.

If the tree hadn't been struck by the power line that fell and toppled it onto the road, I'd have her at the hospital by now, but we're fucked and that's the situation.

Watching her rest has me worried and elated because she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and the idea of getting to protect her has a hold on me I never knew I craved. But the possibility somebody could be after her has me in a feral state of mind, and I'm going to do everything possible to make sure she stays safe.

The wind hits hard and I get up and check the house, making sure everything remains secure. It doesn't take long as the cottage is small, with only two bedrooms and one bath. Enough to fit a loner's needs as myself. It's something I imagine building for myself if I can find a spot of beach property here in Forbidden Falls. It's why I chose this small town. The beach access, the hiking trails, and the woods are everything a guy like me needs.

Heading back into the living room, the woman is still sound asleep and I itch to wake her up and get some answers, but she needs to rest, she's been through the ringer and I woke her up not too long before I passed out for a bit.

I go to the back door and look out and watch as a massive snowfall pounds onto the sand. It's crazy to see this type of snow storm so close to the water. It happens, but not as much as one would think.

Turning around, I head to the fire and stoke it, adding another log. This is the only heat source in the house, or else I would have her in one of the beds where it's more comfortable.

I head back to my seat and pause in place as big brown eyes gape up at me as the blanket bunches under her chin.

"Hi. You're awake."

She blinks a couple of times and tries to speak, but nothing comes out. She clears her throat and makes a second attempt.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"You're in Forbidden Falls, Oregon. You're in the Airbnb I rented for the week. My name is Dale Mitchell with the US Coast Guard." I try to soften my appearance with a smile. I believe I'm pretty approachable, but I'm a big guy with broad shoulders and stand at six foot four. Sometimes people are intimidated by me. Especially women who have been traumatized like this woman.

Wanting to make her more at ease, I drift back to the chair I've been occupying to watch over her. She's been out of it for several hours. Minus the couple times I've noticed her awake for brief moments and for the few times I nudged her awake.

"I wanted to take you to the hospital, but we're in the middle of a bad storm and we're in a little inlet of the main land that has only one access road and well it got blocked by a tree. With the weather, I couldn't work to get it moved. I brought you back here and checked you over and did some minor first aid."

The woman stares with a confused expression on her face.

"My head hurts." She rubs at it and winces when she brushes against the bump that formed. There's a gash too, but I covered it with a bandage.

"I'm surprised more of you doesn't hurt," I say. "Can you tell me what happened? Your name?"

She opens her mouth and pauses, then closes it. She tips her head to the side as she wrinkles her forehead and thinks hard. A slow pant builds and her chest rises faster. She looks around and there's fear in her eyes.

"Oh my God. I don't know my name. I don't know what happened. I can't remember anything."

Lifting my hands, I push closer to the end of my chair. It takes all my restraint to keep my ass in the seat and not wrap her in my arms and soothe her the way I want to.

"Okay, okay. Breathe for me. Take easy breaths. We don't want you working yourself up more. It'll make your head hurt worse if you tense yourself and overthink. You hit your head pretty hard. You have a concussion, so a little memory lapse isn't nothing to stress over." I think.

"We're just going to get you calm. And get you comfortable enough to rest and recover while we wait out the storm. I promise you as soon as the weather lightens up, we'll head back to the road and I'll figure out a way to either go around the tree or I'll move it with my truck. But we don't want you to stress out too much, okay?"

I breathe slowly with an over exaggeration through my nose and out through my mouth, and she follows me. Her shoulders no longer stand in line with her ears as she settles back into the couch.

"I'm not from around here, so I didn't want to risk us getting lost trying another way out of here while there's been rain, hail, and now a blizzard." I point toward the windows on the door.

The woman scoots a little and pulls herself up to look over the back of the couch to glance out the window. "That's a lot of snow," she mumbles and settles back down. Her eyes remain wide, and they never settle on one thing. They dance around the room, and I don't take it personally when they jump toward me every two seconds.

She bunches the blankets tighter to her chest as if they can shield her from everything. I don't want to make any of this harder for her, so I remain in place and try to keep my voice calm and even. I'd hate to startle her more if I have too much inflection in my voice.

The memory lapse may be present, but it doesn't mean she won't be suffering from muscle memory along with fear of not knowing anything.

"Do I know you?"

Shit . I should've explained more instead of gazing at her, taking in how beautiful she is, and how sweet her voice is. I'm out of my element in standard etiquette.

"No, we've never met before. I'm here on vacation, and I was getting settled to camp out here in the living while the storm brewed outside when I noticed you on the beach."

She cocks her head.

"You were stumbling, and drenched. I ran out to you and noticed you'd been injured, but before you could say anything, you passed out and I put us in my truck to get you to the hospital, but well, you know the rest."

She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and her perfect white teeth poke out a little as she plays with the lip. Her hand rubs against her chest. She lowers the blanket and frowns at the large T-shirt and rolled up sweatpants on her.

"You were soaked, and I didn't want you to get sick on top of everything else. So, I toweled you off and put on some of my clothes. Don't worry, I saw nothing. I looked at your face the whole time."

It didn't even kill me like it would've had in any other situation. The woman was unconscious and went through quite the ordeal, so there was no urge to look. But after I got her settled and safe, the desire built up because I've been able to study her face and even with the bruising, she's perfect.

The anger boils inside of me as I imagine getting my hands on the man who dared hurt her and make him fight somebody his own size.

"Um, thank you."

Awe, no need to thank me, beautiful.

The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I don't want to muddy the situation, so I nod and say, "You're welcome."