Alex (In the Company of Snipers) by Irish Winters

bird’s eye view of her without being seen. Doctoring Kelsey this morning had taken on a whole new dimension. One look into her trusting eyes and he knew he had better put some distance between them. The warmth of her skin had changed his idea of medical attention to attention of a different kind. He didn’t want to just smooth ointment on her legs and back anymore. Even scabbed and torn, her skin had glowed under his touch, and he liked it, but too many feelings begged for release. He just was not going down that road again. One true love in his life was enough, and two divorces more than plenty. No more heartache. Not now. Not ever.
    So he buried himself in the remedy that had served him in times past, work and distance, all the while keeping careful track as Kelsey wandered below with his dogs at her heels. She picked blackberries, another pleasing sight. After the first few handfuls in her pan disappeared thanks to Whisper’s lip-smacking company, she had to carry the pan everywhere she went.
    She never grumbled at the big mutt though, even when he had munched all the low hanging fruit, leaving only the hardest to reach berries for her. In fact, she talked to him like he was a little boy and understood. She hummed some jingle Alex couldn’t place. It didn’t matter. Anything that rolled off her lips sounded good. Even from the rooftop, she was pleasant company.
    A couple days of sleep, food, and rest had an astounding impact on her. In just one day his watchfulness had changed from worry about her health to watching her for an entirely different reason. Scarred, bruised or not, a beautiful woman was emerging from the battered husk he had found on his porch, and it wasn’t just physical. Kelsey had a way about her that invited everything in, him and his dogs included, like she already loved the world and everyone in it.
    He growled to himself at the thing that was happening. He was losing his mind, heart, and soul to her. He could feel it. So he fixed the rickety roof on his rickety cabin like he had nothing better to do, and he watched the most beautiful woman in the world dance with Whisper and Smoke.

     
    Seven
    Alex
    “Looks like you’ve had a good day.”
    Alex kept his head down. He had to. It was either that or act like a fool again, and he had done enough of that. He forced himself to concentrate on the wood in his hands instead of staring at Kelsey. His knife glinted in the firelight as notch after notch of the soft pine dropped to the ground between his boots. He had a plan for this piece of wood. He hoped.
    “I actually contributed something today, huh?” she teased.
    He ignored her cheerful jab. “So, how’s your head? You remember anything yet?”
    Kelsey’s fingers combed through her long hair, pulling it over the left side of her head, still trying to hide the bruised part of her face. “Once in a while I get the oddest feelings, but that’s all.”
    Alex blew on his carving, sending a small cloud of dust and shavings into the air. “Amnesia’s a tricky thing.”
    “It’s like being in limbo,” she muttered as she watched from her perch on the other side of the fire pit.
    Alex noticed both dogs lay near Kelsey with Whisper bumped up against the log she sat on, his velvet fur dusty with wood shavings and dirt. His dogs had already succumbed to her charms. He was next. The chunk of wood in his hand proved it.
    “I’d really like to remember my children. It’s like they’re right here in my head, but I can’t quite reach them. Do you think they’re safe? I mean, if I do have children, why am I out here without them?”
    He heard the plaintive tone in Kelsey’s question. Deep within her mother’s heart, she knew something was wrong, and yet she didn’t know anything at all. Once again he deliberated telling her everything he knew. Maybe it was time. His heart thudded. Maybe not. Maybe tomorrow ….
    She had stopped playing with her hair and scratched Whisper’s belly while she