Chapter 3

One Moment of Magic

Tuesday morning Jason sat at his desk, still staring at the computer screen. For the life of him, he could not figure out what was wrong with the program. It simply didn't look right, and he was sick of looking at it. Frustrated, he turned away from the screen, thinking back to last night, at Phillip and Belle's. They had flat out refused to tell him what was going on with Mimi, simply saying that when and if she told him things, was up to her.

Just then, Kally buzzed, to let him know that Mimi was ready for their morning meeting. Mimi walked in, in a soft grey skirt suit, that came a few inches above the knee, and a silk green camisole under the jacket. All Jason could do was stare.

"Jason?" Mimi asked, wondering if she was wearing something inappropriate for work.

Jason snapped out of his gawking, realizing that he was caught. "Ready?" He asked, taking a shaky breath, trying not to stare at the goddess in front of him. The only problem he could see was that her eyes were puffy, as if she had been crying. And that wasn't something he could help with, seeing how no one would tell him what was going on with her.

"As I'll ever be." Mimi replied, not mentioning just how nervous she was.

They walked into the board room together, the rest of the group sitting down and stopping their talk when they realized that Jason was there. Jason walked to the head of the table and sat down, motioning Mimi to sit at his right.

"Everyone, I want you to meet my new right hand. This is Mimi Lockhart. She is the new marketing exec, and any and all marketing ideas or decisions are to go through her. If she says no, then it's no go, got it?" He said, making a statement, not a question, and everyone knew it. Everyone except one woman nodded. The other woman looked over at Mimi with squinty eyes, giving her a once over. The look went unnoticed by everyone.

Jason flipped open his NetCorp binder, opening to page three. "Ok, Max, I want you to tell me how our sales have been doing lately. Then, after the meeting, I want you and Mimi to set up a time to get together and figure out some new strategies for selling our company- not our products- to the public at large. There are going to be a lot of changes here, with the move to Salem and all, and we need to make sure the public doesn't see us as a monopolizing company, out to suck their paychecks dry. We need a wholesome image."

As Max, a cute twenty-something with blue eyes and blonde hair, readily agreed, Mimi cocked an eyebrow. She couldn't imagine Jason Masters being concerned with wholesome images. Perhaps he really had changed. Perhaps. But still, she wouldn't bet on it.

The rest of the meeting went in a similar fashion. By the time they were done, and Max and Mimi had set up an appointment together, it was well passed lunch time. Jason sat in his chair at the head of the room, waiting for her. When he realized she was about to walk out the door, he reached up and grabbed her arm.

"What do you want for lunch, Meems?" He asked, grabbing his briefcase.

"I was just going to order in." She said, smiling, as she went to walk past him to her office.

"Come on, my treat. Bosses orders, ok?" He said, not willing to take no for an answer.

"Ok, I guess so. But you pick, ok?"

"I can do that, I can do that." He replied, smiling, as he led her out of the office, something that did not go unnoticed by a young blonde member of NetCorp, Linda.

Linda once more gave Mimi a once over as she walked out with Jason, rolled her eyes in disgust, and headed back to her office.

"Jason! These are some of the best chicken fajitas I've had in forever!" Mimi squealed, thoroughly enjoying the offbeat Mexican restaurant Jason had brought her to.

Jason smiled, happy to see her happy. If only it would keep her smiling, he would buy the place!

"You think those are good? Here, try some of their quesadillas." He said, leaning over with a piece of quesadilla in his hand, moving his thumb across her lips for a few seconds. He stared into her eyes and whispered, for her to open her mouth. He slowly fed her the quesadilla.

Mimi didn't know what was better, the quesadilla, or Jasons warm breath on her face. The food was wonderful, but the feel of his fingers on her lips made shivers run up and down her spine. She hadn't felt like this since- since Rex left her.

That thought broke the trance, the magic. Jason watched as she shut down, as the light in her still somewhat puffy eyes died, as the wall she so carefully guarded went back up. "You ready to go?" She coolly asked Jason, careful to make sure any and all emotions were out of her voice.

Jason looked down gloomily. "Yeah, let's go." He said, knowing that for today, the magic was over. But, at least he had one moment of Mimi's magic. As he left a tip and payed the bill, he decided that it was his new goal to get Mimi's magic back. He was going to make sure that she would still be the fiery Meem's he knew and, well, he wasn't sure what else he felt. He just knew that he wanted Meem's back.

Jason sat in his office, still staring at the screen. What was wrong with this program? And why couldn't he, Jason Masters, figure it out? He had asked a few of his software programming developers to take a look at it, and they agreed it wasn't anything technical. One had told him to get creative. So with that in mind, Jason picked up his phone. He would get the most creative person he knew to help him.

Later on in the office, Mimi was mentally kicking herself for allowing Jason to feed her. What a dumb, stupid move that was. She couldn't believe that she was actually forgetting Rex and their baby. She knew she would have to keep her distance from Jason. She couldn't allow herself to feel those things again. She just wouldn't. Sighing, she picked up the phone as it rang.

"Mimi speaking." She said, glad at least for her job.

"Mimi, it's Kally. Mr. Masters wants to see you in his office." The receptionist said into the phone.

"Ok, thanks." Mimi replied, bracing herself, preparing to see Jason again.

Jason looked up as Mimi entered the office. "I need your help." He said frankly, trying to block out the memory of his fingers on her lips.

"Sure. With what?" Mimi asked, coming over to his desk, looking concerned.

"This program. It's not right. And it's not the software itself that's wrong- it's the look. Can you take a look?" He asked, looking hopefully at her. He was at his wits end with the program.

Mimi smiled. She loved the way her truly valued her opinion on things. "Of course." She said, leaning over him, to take a look at the computer, as the smell of her Hannah Maria perfume intoxicated him, and made him think thoughts about her, him, and his desk that he really shouldn't have been thinking about. Jason shook his head, knowing it was going to be a very long day.