Retrieving the post "number" in a loop, not the ID

I’m not sure if there is a variable to take care of this. But I need to display a number next to each of my posts / excerpts.

I have a page that displays 3 posts, one after another with next / previous links at the bottom of the page.

I need it so that it numbers them such as

1. Post One >> content …
2. Post Two >> content …
3. Post Three >> content …

But I need these numbers to stay the same no matter which page (of the pagination) it is on. So if you are viewing page 3, I still need it to number the posts 1, 2, 3

Does anybody know if there is a variable I can access to make this possible?

Thanks.