Free Jamie by Lori Foster

you feel better.”
    The words were, in part, true enough to cut deep. Sure, he hurt. Pain had become a part of his life: the pain of solitude, of want and need. But the crushing blow she’d delivered, made more so by her sincerity and the compassion in her expression, couldn’t compare to the accustomed ache Jamie lived with day in and day out.
    This pain could finish him off.
    In an act of self-preservation, Jamie separated himself from her, literally lifting and tossing her onto the bed. Before she’d finished bouncing, he reached the ladder. He’d go outside. He’d vanish into the woods. God knew he excelled at vanishing.
    He’d leave Faith no choice but to vacate his cabin, to get out of his head and out of his life.
    Hell, maybe he’d go to Alyx and tell her that Faith ... No, Alyx would tear her up—and screw it, he didn’t want Alyx’s help.
    He wanted no one’s help.
    He trusted no one. He didn’t.
    Six rungs down, the ladder shook and Faith yelled to him. “Jamie Creed, don’t you dare leave without me!”
    He looked up—and wished like hell he hadn’t.
    God Almighty, Faith had both feet on the ladder rungs, scurrying down after him too fast, and she wore only a shirt.
    No panties.
    A rush of sexual hunger fused with resentment, and the result wasn’t pretty. Jamie felt primitive, savage. He felt capable of things that no man should ever feel.
    Frozen in place, Jamie stared up, half hearing her continued pleas and orders while an inferno of carnal imagery sparked and then combusted inside him. His palms began to sweat, jeopardizing his grip on the ladder.
    And then the unthinkable happened.
    In her haste, Faith’s bare foot slipped off a rung. She cried out, floundering and grasping for the ladder, clunking down two more rungs while awkwardly trying to regain purchase.
    Jamie leapt the final few feet to the floor just as she lost her hold and fell back with a shriek that made his ears ring. She twisted in midair, trying to land on her feet. Instinct brought his arms up, and he half caught her in a tangle of thrashing limbs and accelerated breathing. It wasn’t a secure hold by any means.
    Grunting, Jamie bore her weight as they both hit the wooden floor, fast and hard. Pain flashed through his hip, his shoulder. His head smacked the floor, sending stars to dance before his eyes. Good God.
    Sprawled out diagonally over him, Faith lay unmoving, one hand clenched on his shoulder, the other on his waist. Her face was practically in his armpit. He could feel her fast breaths, the pounding of her heart. Her legs straddling one of his.
    For several moments, Jamie couldn’t take it in. He queried his body, wondering if he’d broken anything, trying to get air back into his traumatized lungs.
    Faith shifted—and moaned. He almost moaned too, because her naked sex pressed against his hip. He could feel the heat of her.
    Jamie decided that he must be a glutton for punishment, given how swiftly his body reacted. How he could go from blind fury to arousal after a bone-jarring fall, he didn’t know.
    Pain evident in her voice, Faith whispered, “Jamie . . . my leg.”
    Her fear brought him around. First sickness, then a bump on the head, and now a hurt leg? The woman was a walking catastrophe, and if he weren’t careful, she’d take him down with her. Jamie stared at the ceiling, wondering what to do.
    â€œJamie?”
    He closed his eyes. “Well, shit.”

Chapter Four
    Careful not to jar Faith, Jamie lifted his head. His brains didn’t spill out, so he assumed he’d be okay. Maybe.
    The flannel shirt, which he now wanted to burn, bunched up around her waist, leaving her lush bottom completely bare. A long red welt traveled from her left hip down the length of her thigh to just below her knee. Already the flesh of her thigh looked discolored and swollen.
    He couldn’t freaking believe this. Being