She blew out a long breath, her brown eyes meeting his. “Most of it doesn’t matter except for this. Keith was into gambling. Heavy-duty gambling, and I had no idea until after he died. He drained our accounts, took money from the 401-K, and hadn’t paid any of the life insurance he had.”
; Lucas stiffened as he absorbed that information, but too much still didn’t make sense. “Okay, but banks don’t just foreclose. They give you warning.”
Her sad eyes met his. “When we moved in here, Keith was doing very well at the firm. He told me we paid off the mortgage. Then, after he died, of course I didn’t make any payments because I didn’t think there were any to be made.” She glanced away. “I had no idea Keith had taken out another mortgage and somehow forged my name until the sheriff delivered the notice!” she said with the first show of anger since she’d arrived.
Lucas glanced at the paper in his hand, still confused. If it had been a warning, he could have paid off the debt and saved her home. “Didn’t you get advance notice? They usually give you time to make payments. I could have taken care of things.”
She shook her head. “I called the bank. Apparently they had a post office box on file, not the house address. Keith hadn’t paid the mortgage in almost a year. Here I thought at least I had the apartment free and clear, because thanks to the gambling, there was nothing left.”
He stared in disbelief. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”
“Because I thought I could handle things.” She shifted her gaze from his, her hands twisting in her lap. “I got a job for minimum wage at a boutique and—”
“Hold on.” He held up one hand, interrupting her. “You’re a paralegal at Keith’s firm. What happened to your job?”
“The partners fired me after Keith died and the truth about him came out. He’d been siphoning money from the firm too. I’m tainted goods by extension. I can’t get a job at another criminal law firm. Nobody will go near me. I have resumes with a lot of civil firms but no bites.”
Shock rocked through him. Lucas had never had a good relationship with his sibling, and he knew damn well he’d been a shitty husband. It had taken everything in him to watch the sparkle leave Maxie’s gaze over the last few years, but he’d told himself it wasn’t his business. He’d had no idea Keith had been a thief and a gambler.
“If he were here, I’d strangle him,” Lucas muttered.
“I’ve thought the same thing myself.” She twirled a strand of hair around one finger nervously. “I’ve been paying the utility bills and buying food. You know, the basics, but I thought at least I had the apartment to my name.”
His head was spinning with the amount of information he hadn’t known, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Why am I just hearing about any of this? Obviously you know I’d help you, because you’re here now,” he said, unreasonably hurt she hadn’t come to him when she’d realized she had no means of support.
She lifted her shoulders. “I spent years under Keith’s thumb, letting him take care of things, and look where that got me. Why do you think I changed my name back to Sullivan? I want… need to stand on my own. And in this case, I didn’t want to be a burden.” She reached out and took his hand. “You’d have been there for me. You always are, but you don’t need my problems in your life.”
That hurt. As much as he understood her rationale, he had always wanted to be the person she could turn to. “You could never be a burden.”
“I’m about to be one because I have nowhere to go. I had a friend I planned to move in with, and at the last minute, she changed her mind. She wants her boyfriend to move in instead.”
“Some friend.”
A small smile lifted her lips. Lips he couldn’t tear his gaze away from, no matter how desperate her situation. Which made him a jerk.
“And I can’t ask my mother for anything. We barely speak. I really do have nowhere to go.” Her eyes shimmered with tears.
“Of course you do and you know it. You can stay here until we figure out your next step. I have three bedrooms. It’ll be fine. You won’t even be kicking me out of my home office.”
She met his gaze, gratitude in her expression. “It won’t be for long, I promise. Just until I figure a few things out. I told you I have resumes sent in to civil law firms. The partners at Keith’s firm agreed to give me a letter of recommendation as long as I stay away from criminal law. I’m hoping to make a fresh start. If I live carefully, I can save and be out of here—”
“Maxie, stop. You’ll stay here as long as you need,” he said, refusing to think about what that close proximity between them would mean.
Of course, his cock immediately registered the fact and began to perk up. Sister-in-law, he harshly reminded himself. Grieving widow. Woman who’d suffered a severe loss. He had no right or intention of making a move on her.
“Thank you,” she said on a shaky exhale. Without warning, she rose from her seat and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tight.
He cradled her back, breathing in her familiar strawberry shampoo scent, and a sense of longing shot through him. The kind he’d pushed aside for years because he had no choice. She elicited emotions from deep inside him, and his body grew even harder at the feel of her soft curves in his arms.
He grasped her shoulders and separated them before she became aware of his reaction to her nearness. “It’ll be okay,” he said, taking in her glassy eyes.
“Thanks to you.” She straightened her shoulders. “I really wanted to stand on my own two feet, but every time I turn around, another hit comes. There was so much Keith did behind my back…” She shook her head. “But it doesn’t matter. Thank you for helping me. I hope it won’t cramp your social life,” she said, not meeting his gaze.
“I’m more than happy to share my video controllers,” he said with a wink, hoping to lighten the mood.
The pathetic fact was, since canceling his date the night he’d come to her rescue, he hadn’t been out with another woman.