She didn’t know what I was, or what she was to me.

But I did.

And it was time I fucking told her.

“Boss, don’t you think you should, er, change first?” Emmet asked as he picked himself off the floor.

I stopped snarling long enough to look down as I lowered myself to the ground. My form shifted back to that of my human side, and I took in my ripped and torn clothing that hung off my body in shreds.

“Fuck!” I snapped.

I hated to waste time, but it was necessary. I couldn’t very well drive across town like this.

“Clean this place up. I’ll be back,” I told the guys, waving at the mess Dante and Kian had made before that little phone call.

Almost twenty minutes later, cursing the Sunday morning traffic, I stalked intoDevil’s Food Bakery. A young woman was working behind the counter and there was a smattering of customers in line.

“Where’s Penelope?” I asked quietly.

“Oh, uh, in the back?” the woman said, but it sounded more like a question.

The three older women who were waiting for their baked goods looked at me and whispered. I could only imagine what they were thinking, but I ignored them and walked behind the counter.

“Oh, sir? You can’t?—”

I ignored her. The cashier was not important to me.

Penelope was the only thing of any importance. The only woman who mattered to me.

Something was going on this morning.

Something I had obviously fucked up last night on our date.

I knew I needed to fix it. And on some level, I knew barging in like this was probably wrong. But my Devil was champing at the bit, and it was all I could do to keep my shift at bay.

The kitchen looked bigger than I imagined from the front, but it didn’t matter.

Hell, there could be oceans between us, and I would always find Penelope with unerring accuracy.

Always.

The pull I felt towards her was positively magnetic. My heart thudded heavily, and my cock grew hard just looking at her in her chef’s coat and pants. There were little red hearts with devil horns and pitchforks on them and any other time I would have grinned.

But not right then. All I wanted was Penelope. Here. Now. In my arms.

Mine.

“Oh crap! He looks pissed,” Avery squeaked, but she was grinning.

Penelope’s big brown eyes widened, and she backed up a step. Not smart. I was a hunter at heart and right now, my inner Devil recognized her as my prey.

“Avery,” I said, greeting her friend first.

The shorter woman looked like the cat that got the canary when she saw me, and she stepped off to the side, giving Penelope some room.

“Um, I think maybe I should get Lenny to come in a little earlier,” Avery said and started dialing.

But I ignored her, too.