Free Shark Bait by Daisy Harris

love with me, then, that you want me, desperately. That you can’t live without me.”
With every one of her statements, he laughed harder. This female was far more fun than he’d realized. “What could you possibly hope to get out of that?”
Her furious features arranged into a haughty expression. “Not that you would understand this, shark, but dragon males have a very strong noble streak. If you steal me away and appear to hold me captive, one is bound to come to my rescue.”
Raider straightened his back, confused. “But one already came to your rescue.”
She sighed loudly. “Yeah, but he doesn’t want to marry me.”
He stifled the snort that threatened to escape. His glee dimmed a little when her face fell.
“He’d already found another. That had nothing to do with me!”
He doubted that was true, but chose not to point it out. “All right, so let’s assume your noble warrior does come to your rescue. Why would he fall in love with you?”
She drew her brows together and spoke slowly, as if trying to convince herself as well as him. “Well, firstly because he’ll think you’re in love with me. Nothing makes a male or female more attractive than the attention of another.”
Raider shrugged. She had a point.
“And because by then I’ll be in heat, and he won’t be able to resist.”
Raider pried his jaw off the deck. He hadn’t fully appreciated this female’s ruthless streak. It turned him on like all hell. His mind reeled as he struggled to catch up. “What do I get out of this deal again?” He took another deep dreg of water, soothing his suddenly-parched throat.
She rolled her shoulders back, putting one little brow finger up at a time and listing the items. “Well, first you’d get your freedom.”
“I told you. That I could get on my own.” But her offer was tempting, so fucking tempting. So Raider hedged. “Listen- only if you can keep the captain locked up. And I mean permanently.” He spoke in measured words, not letting too much hope or desperation show through. “It’s not safe for you or anyone else around me otherwise.”
Sophia waved a dismissive hand. “That won’t be a problem.” She held up another finger. “Second, you’d get bragging rights that you stole a dragoness noble right out from the Council’s nose.”
The deal got better and better. That would raise his status drastically, and with his father out of the way he could...
“And third…um, well we could have intercourse if you want.”
Raider spurt water straight out his nose.
* * * *
    Sophia watched him choke and stutter. At first she felt guilty. He sounded pained. But then she recalled his laughter at the notion of even pretending to be in love with her. It made her want to kick him. “I know you’d like to, so I’m not sure why you’re so surprised I’d offer that as incentive.”
    “I…” He shook his head like a dog with water in its ears. “Wait, let me get this…I don’t get you dragons!”
She pondered his comment, completely at a loss. “What’s not to get?”
His hands flew up in the air, and he paced a few steps to the right, then to the left. It was the most she’d seem him move in such short a span of time. “You’re all medieval with the arranged marriages and shit and then you…”
“Are you referring to the human medieval era? In Western Europe, after the Roman Empire, but before the Age of Enlightenment?” She’d studied human history of various cultures, but in truth, she’d missed most of the details.
“Yeah, sweetheart, that. Wouldn’t your noble knight be upset if you’d already popped your cherry?”
Her mind flew through images of the human world and what the shark could possibly mean. “Why would my mate mind if I ate a cherry?”
The shark shifter, Raider, pinched his forehead between his thumb and his forefinger.
Her brow knit further in confusion.
“I mean, won’t he be upset if you lost your virginity?”
She nibbled her fingernail. Mercy, she should know