And now he had Summer.
Bracing himself, he pushed his glass of water aside. The first words out of her mouth made him glad his mouth was empty.
"So, I'm going to give this lesbian thing a shot, you know, maybe proposition her? But I can't decide on a flavor of lip gloss." Her makeup bag landed right on top of the security schematics he'd spread out across the island. "I have this amazing strawberry mint stuff I picked up yesterday. But I'm really into this all-natural honey balm right now, so that's what I would want to taste if I were eating somebody's mouth. Which would you choose?"
He ran a hand down his face to hide his pained grimace. "So many words I never wanted to hear you speak. You're too young to proposition anybody."
Summer, eight years younger than him at twenty-two, grinned at him with the kind of cheek only a little sister could get away with. "Jeez, Grumpy Cat. I was just asking. Be glad I'm not thinking about giving it up to this guy in my Lit class who looks like Ryan Gosling."
His eye started to throb. "This isn't the lion talking. It's the brother, and he is much more dangerous right now."
"Meow, meow, meow. I can't hear you." Summer clawed the air between them playfully before redirecting her attention to the compact mirror she'd propped up against her coffee mug. "Anyway, you need to unclench your butt, big brother. It's not like I've spent my adult years wearing some kind of medieval chastity belt or something."
Jude folded his arms across his chest as she applied purple mascara to her eyelashes. There wasn't anything he could do about whatever she'd gotten up to while running wild during the years that had passed between their parents' split and entering into his guardianship, but he was in control now. "You're too young, you don't know this city, and promiscuity could jeopardize your ability to find a mate."
"One." She pointed her mascara wand at him. "I'm well above the legal age of consent. Two, one city is the same as another. I have condoms in my purse and a big, snarly, over-protective lion shifter on speed dial if I hook up with someone who decides not to play nice. And three, I'm not exactly queen of the jungle material. Even if I were, really? Anybody whose ideal woman is a virgin is fundamentally an asshole, and you wouldn't hand your baby sister off to an asshole. Besides, you have your super spy background check machine at the ready. And you've already checked her out anyway."
He'd been out of his mind to take on this responsibility. "The last thing I want to talk about today is your sex life, but her who?"
"The yarn store woman." Summer widened her eyes dramatically. "Oh-em-gee. Have you seen her?"
Fuck. Yes. He'd seen her. He still owed Ares an ass-kicking for pulling the Pride card in order to get Jude to take on a human client. Another human client.
Lily Bristol, a curvy, delectable woman with a shock of brilliant blue running through her black hair, just daring him to find out what it would take to make her azure eyes as bright as that challenging streak.
Hell. His dick was getting hard at the mere thought. The memory of a damn photo Ares had texted when he'd called in the favor.
Down kitty.
He exhaled. Yeah, that was better. Nothing like letting Summer's voice in his head to quell any remotely sexual urges.
But his sister wasn't why he had to keep himself from going down that road. Lily Bristol had some kind of connection to another of the Kings. It was unusual enough for three male lion shifters to function cooperatively in one territory that he wasn't willing to compromise the Pride by poaching in Ares's back yard.
"I don't need to see her," he finally said, even though Summer had stopped talking in favor of outlining her lips in something redder than he cared for. "Neither do you." Summer capped her lip pencil and quirked a tawny eyebrow at him. "Um, yeah, you do, because wow. She makes me want to grab a strap-on and learn how to lick-"
He growled. "No." "Say no all you want, but your king of the jungle stuff doesn't work on me. Anyway, I'm only teasing. I like big, thick dick." A sly, feline smile tilted Summer's eyes beneath the fringe of her dark blonde hair. "I bet Lily likes it big and thick, too. You should ask her if you can audition. Odds are you won't pass the test, but maybe if the competition is weak … " Sobering, she added, "But, seriously. There's something about her. Something … "
Summer shrugged. "I don't know. Cat-nippy. And you, brother dear, need a mate if for no other reason than to distract you so I can enjoy myself without you intimidating the hell out of men I'm attracted to. Go see her."