Chapter One

Poppy.

What in SpongeBob's buttcrack did that say?

I blinked my eyes several times, staring at the whiteboard at the front of our conference room, and the chicken scratch with my name beside it.

I was certain that it did not say Bridget's Canyon beside my name.

Turning away from the whiteboard, I turned back quickly, making sure I hadn't misread anything.

Nope. Tommy Crotch Sniffer Thomas, our new editor-in-chief, assigned me the worst story in the town. The mysterious crater that no scientist had figured out since the beginning of time. Which meant that every journalist from here to Timbuktu had written about it.

I balled my fingers into fists and grabbed my notepad, shoving my way out of the conference room and toward his office.

I knew exactly why he gave this assignment to me. Because last Friday at our weekly get-together at Charlie's Pub, he'd hit on me, and I shut it down quickly. I may be stubborn and determined but I was not about sleeping with my boss.

His laughter spilled out from his cracked door, and it crawled under my skin like bed bugs. I kicked his door open wide and walked into his office. His cologne assaulted me, and I nearly choked on it. "Tommy," I said, clearing my throat. "We need to talk."

He glanced over his tiny framed glasses, his beady brown eyes glancing at me. "I'm on the phone," he mouthed, pointing toward his ear.

Angry steam spilled from my ears. "Tommy you have someone here to see you!" I shouted.

He glared at me. "I'll call you back."

Tommy leaned back in his high-backed leather chair and glared at me. "What is so important, Poppy?"

Pressing my mouth into a thin line, I narrowed my dark eyes at him. "I think you know. Did you give me Bridget's Canyon? Seriously, Tommy? What new take could I possibly give that played-out story?"

Tommy gave me an amused grin. "I don't know. I was looking over your resume and I noticed your awards from college. I just figured if anyone could bring it to life that it would be you."

Oh, I felt like Elle Woods.

A newfound determination hit me. If this bastard wanted to go there, we would so go there.

Smiling, I watched Tommy grow completely uncomfortable from my stare. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You look more red than usual."

I could only imagine that I resembled a tomato. Being red-headed, I turned rosy easily, and this joker didn't realize that I was hotter than Dante's Inferno right about now.

"I'm fine," I snapped. "And I'll show you just how valuable Elle Woods can be!"

I left Tommy with a confused look as I stormed toward my office, and grabbed my sunglasses, and my purse, before hurrying from the building.

My best friend Missy's heels click-clacked after me, but I didn't stop my mad exit until I made it to my 2002 CR-V.

"Where is the fire?" she asked, stopping at the hood of my car. She shoved her ebony hair from her shoulders and huffed loudly. "I mean geesh, I thought you were auditioning for the track team or something."

Bracing my palm against the door of my car, I growled loudly. "Tommy gave me Bridget's Canyon."

Missy gasped and swung her purse to the hood of my car. "You're kidding?" she asked, checking her lipstick in her pocket mirror. "What a tool." She slammed her mirror closed. "He tried to get you to come home with him after the party, didn't he?"

I gagged. "Yeah, and I turned him and his baby hands down."

Missy leaned her elbows against the hood of my car. "What are you going to do? The yearly review is coming up next month, and if we don't wow Mr. Thorton, he'll bring in graduates from the journalism department."

I sighed dramatically. "I'm going there now to figure something out. I'll call you when I'm there, maybe you can help me think of a new avenue for this stupid hole in the ground."

Missy lugged her purse over her shoulder and stepped back onto the sidewalk. She pulled her pencil skirt down and put her hands on her hips. "Be careful. I heard some drug deals were going on down there. Oh!" she shouted, but I shook my head.

"I'm not digging into some kind of drug ring, Missy. I enjoy my toes too much for that."

She shrugged. "Good luck."

I drove out of our sleepy mountain town, and toward the canyon, crater, or whatever you wanted to call it. I'd been fascinated by it growing up, but it was short-lived once my dad took me to visit it.

It was a huge hole in the earth. Scientists hadn't been able to make it to the other side to see where it led, and the one person who did attempt it never made it back.

They gave up after several drones disappeared, and one came back severely burned.

This was a useless trip, but I had no choice. I had to come up with something that would put Tommy in his place, and give me at least another year of work at The Voice.

I parked in the empty parking lot adjacent to the crater. Grabbing my keys, I glanced over at our town's attempt at a tourist attraction. It'd been huge back in the early 90s, but now, no one cared about it.

Grabbing my notepad, I walked down the sidewalk that led toward the monstrosity. Birds sang to me from a magnolia tree on top of a hill next to the crater. I tapped my pencil against the notepad and sighed.

A fence separated the sidewalk from the crater, and just to be a rebel, I climbed over it to look inside. It was an endless black void as I imagined.

The rocks from the closest mountain looked similar to the inside of it. I stepped back to the safety of the sidewalk and slammed my fist onto my hip.

I scribbled down: The Forgotten Crater. No one is brave enough to step into Bridget's Canyon.

I crumbled the piece of paper up and shoved it into the pocket of my skirt.

"This is useless," I mumbled, starting back toward my vehicle. I click-clacked down the sidewalk, the end of my heel catching a crack.

I stumbled forward to all fours and cursed under my breath. Turning back to pull out my heel, the ground began to shake.

I froze. We weren't known for earthquakes.

I pulled at my heel harder, finally deciding it wasn't worth it, and ditched it. Hobbling along toward my car, I caught myself on the hood.

A blast of rock and debris shattered around me. I ducked, protecting my head with my forearms, and screamed as a whipping sound almost shattered my eardrums.

My brain went from a fear of an earthquake to a tornado.

Crawling the best I could, using my vehicle as a brace, I grabbed the door handle and dared a glance behind me.

My entire body froze. Despite the wind sending my hair around my shoulders, I could see the source perfectly.

I'll never forget it.

I wanted to call it an 'it,' but it looked so much like a man. It was a man, no doubt. A male.

But he was hovering above the crater, his wingspan large and overwhelming. One, because he had wings at all, and two, because he was staring at me.

His dark hair was speckled with white, but not due to age. He didn't look a day over thirty-five. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his torso rivaled any Marvel character. His fingers were tightened into fists at his sides, and his forearms were coiled and swoon-worthy.

That was just his body.

His face ... Dear God, I needed to look away but I couldn't. My eyes were ogling him like a sixteen-year-old at Chippendales.

My mouth opened to speak but nothing came out. Had I fallen down the crater? Hit my head Yup, that was it. I was dreaming. Who knew my self-conscience was into sexy dragon men? I'd have to venture out to the local bookstore the next time I visited.

That was if there was a next time.

Backing up, I stumbled against the door and struggled to open it.

A smile curled up the side of his face, and I immediately needed a new pair of panties. Pronto. How someone threatening my sanity, and my safety made me horny, I'd never know. It'd been way too long.

His gaze lifted above my head, and just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared back into the hole.

The wind stopped, and so did my heart. I listened to the sound of an old truck coming down the road, but I didn't wait. I got my ass up, hopped into my vehicle, and with shaky hands drove home.

What in the Hell did I just see?