Flint McCallum is a man on the edge of darkness. He has returned from the Middle East to start a new life with his teenage son, but the memories of conflict are too strong and the rage in his heart threatens to destroy everything he touches.

Even his relationship with his son.

Thirty-one year old Pandora Paige is an artistic free spirit with a mystical gift. She offers a helping hand to troubled souls to guide them out of the dark.

Towards hope.

From the moment they meet in a bar on the bayside fringe of Melbourne, these polar opposites are destined to join together in a blaze of passion – a blaze that Pandora hopes will be strong enough to blast away the darkness keeping Flint captive.

But her number one rule – to stay detached – becomes harder to maintain as she becomes more deeply ensnared in the intriguing force of Flint’s magnetic yet troubled personality. She is afraid of his darkness, even as she is inexplicably drawn to it, and wants more strongly than ever to be successful in her quest to help him reach the light.

For Flint it was meant to be one night of passion. A walk on the wild side where he could forget the dark thoughts pulling him down, enjoy some damn good sex with an intriguing woman and walk away emotionally intact the next morning.

The perfect one night stand.

The last thing he expects is to encounter the mystic forces that make Pandora what she is. Forces that he doesn’t believe in on a rational level, but that seem to be drawing his emotions to the surface as fast as he tries to tamp them back down.

In his experience, giving in to emotion can be dangerous.

Giving in to emotion can get you killed. Yet in the course of this one incredible night he finds the very beliefs on which his life has been built seriously challenged by Pandora. He discovers there is such a thing as magic, and he opens up to her in a way he never thought possible. In doing so, he exposes himself at his most vulnerable.

Pandora, in turn, finds an emotional connection with Flint that she never expected, and it frightens her to feel dependent upon another.

They know only each other’s first name. And yet each of them understands the other more intimately than anyone has ever been allowed to in the past.

The exposure is too overwhelming for Flint and he does what he would always do when faced with the raw honesty of emotion.

In the grey light of dawn he runs.

As fast and as far from Pandora as he can get.

But Pandora has learnt through their brief hours together that their lives will be entwined beyond this one night of desire. She discovers that a free spirit is only really free if there are no shackles holding it prisoner. She begins her own journey toward overcoming the fear in her heart and opening herself up to the potential of love.

But it seems she has left her discovery far too late – both for herself, and for Flint, the man who has unlocked her heart.

Flint has been caught up in his own internal battle between the seductive allure of the dark and the generous gift of light that Pandora is offering. Their futures, now firmly interwoven, balance on a knife’s edge.

Is Flint too far gone to accept her gift and begin the journey forward towards healing?

Towards hope?

Or will the attraction of the dark prove too strong and drag them both into the dangerous shadow lands where light and color are just a dim and distant memory?

To My Readers: I love the excitement and allure of the dark side, but to me it is always important to stay within reach of the light. The dark and troubled Flint was in my mind for quite a while before I wrote this story, and I knew he needed a strong and unflappable heroine who would not be afraid to reach into the darkness and offer a guiding hand. I think there is no one else who could have touched his emotions the way Pandora did – I hope you agree that these two are made for each other!