Mr. Personality Read Online Free

material? They still deserved some consideration.
    The young job applicant stared at him with a stricken expression, the sheen of tears in her frightened eyes. “I didn’t bring a resume.”
    “And you?” Maxwell Tucker asked, his gaze coming to rest on Nicole. “You didn’t bring a resume either?”
    Her breath lodged in her constricted throat, Nicole shook her head in answer to his question.
    A slight frown on his face, Tucker stared at her a moment, as if the sight of her triggered an elusive memory. Would he remember their very brief meeting two days ago in the hall outside this very apartment?
    Nicole held her breath, praying against the inevitable. But after a moment, he glanced back down at the one resume in his hand, apparently unable to place her face.
    In that moment, Nicole could only be grateful that he was the kind of person who tended to ignore his fellowman.
    “I suppose I should have expected something of the kind,” Tucker told them, still looking at the older woman’s sheet of paper, boredom evident on his handsome face.
    Nicole’s blood began to simmer. Just because Max Tucker was a famous, wealthy author didn’t give him the right to be such a bastard.
    Still standing, he resumed scanning the older woman’s resume, his expression growing more distant. “You worked for a publishing house. It will be understood that I am not looking for unsolicited ‘editorial input.’ I have enough of that from copy editors.”
    “Oh, no,” the older applicant hastened to assure him with a bright smile. “I understand completely. I’ve read some of your books. I know how geniuses are.”
    Her laugh grated against the tension in the room. “In fact, my brother is an aspiring writer. Not on your level, of course, but he’s very good. He writes spy thrillers. You know, like John LeCarre? Anyway—“
    Her gaze sharpened on Max Tucker’s increasingly sardonic facial expression. “I understand. I wouldn’t change a thing in your books.”
    An edgy silence followed her eager assurance.
    Seeming to dismiss her, Max Tucker glanced at the other woman and, briefly, at Nicole. “If you don’t have a resume, perhaps you can summarize your qualifications.”
    Nicole drew in a tight breath in anticipation of the excruciatingly awkward moment ahead of her. On her job, she’d faced a knife-wielding kid who was high on crack, but, strangely, Max Tucker seemed even more unreachable. There was that elusive something in his expression that kept reminding her of her angrier, bad-ass students, a fragile kind of fear mixed with hostility in the back of their eyes.
    For a second, Nicole toyed with the idea of…reaching Maxwell Tucker. He would definitely be a challenge.
    The younger job applicant stumbled into speech. “I-I’ve done mostly word processing….”
    Looking scared, she wilted into silence.
    “Who have you worked for?”
    “Well, Brad Smedford…and a mystery writer. I think her name was Ann James.” She faltered under the critical scrutiny of the man standing in front of her. “I’ve worked mostly for writers. I-I can’t remember all their names, right now.”
    Max Tucker waited.
    The older woman interrupted. “If you’ll glance at my resume,” she threw Nicole and the younger applicant a triumphant glance, “you’ll see that I’ve worked on Wall Street and for IBM, too.”
    Her smile determined, she assured Max Tucker, “And I can get along with anyone.”
    Max turned to look at her. “What…exactly…does that mean?”
    The younger applicant stared fixedly at the floor and shivered.
    “Well,” the older woman said, seeming to flounder for the first time, “I understand—genius has its quirks. A man with your talent—“
    Her glance seemed to fawn over him.
    “—doesn’t have to—doesn’t want to—that is to say—he shouldn’t have to worry about other people’s feelings— My brother has days when he’s really crabby.” Her raucous laughter rang out again. “It doesn’t