**If anyone is interested in beta-ing for me. I would appreciate it. I always seem to catch my errors after posting. Thanks!****

Chapter 2

Disappointingly, Elizabeth returned solo to her apartment after the wedding. Vince had been persistent that she return to his place with her so they could 'catch up' but she had decided after his first kiss that she wasn't as attracted as she needed to be to build up such expectations with her mother. Their mothers, she knew, would see the night's events as encouragement to only redouble her efforts to hook her and Vince up. Oh, why had she thought dancing with Vince that second time was a good idea?

It could have been worse! Right now, she would be hounded for a few weeks. If she had left with Vince, it would be months before she would have any peace. Well, she decided slipping out of her coat, that since she had not met the man of her dreams tonight she would just need to spend some time with her trusty battery operated Prince Charming. Her mother had not provided much useful information over the years, but she had a favorite saying, 'a dog might be a man's best friend, but a good vibrator was a girl's.'

"Can I get an amen?" Elizabeth told her dim bedroom as she took hers out of her nightstand. All she needed for a night of fulfillment was a glass of wine and a pack of new batteries and she was set.

Gah, she was tense! Rolling her neck she tried unsuccessfully to get the knots of muscles at her neck to relax. It was all William Darcy's fault. This was all because of her forced interaction with him at the wedding and the reception. That man could make her blood boil. In a mocking voice, she said, "Thank you for the dance, Elizabeth. It will be the highlight of my evening." Highlight of the evening, my foot! He was such a sarcastic jerk! What else could you call a man who left his best friend's wedding without a by your leave?

After the couple's first dance had ended, it was time for the couple to depart for their honeymoon. As the maid of honor, Elizabeth had helped Jane get her belongings in order and make sure that nothing was left behind. However, when she asked after Darcy because Charles had another groomsmen helping him, Jane had told her that he had just up and left. He'd just vanished. Well, good riddance! She'd never enjoyed an association with a man less than she had him. It wasn't like she was mourning the loss of his presence. No indeedy. She just thought it was rude. How could Darcy have done something like that to Charles, his best friend!

Stripping out of her bridesmaid dress, Elizabeth hung it carefully back in her closet while trying to forget her annoyance with the mercurial man. She cooled her rising temper in a much needed cold shower before she changed into her normal sleepwear of a white t-shirt and boy shorts.

Padding to the kitchen for a glass of water, Elizabeth definitely needed to be on her "A game" when her mother rang at first light. She definitely did not need a hangover when that call came in. Her mother had probably already given her cell phone number to Vince's mom. She groaned out loud at the thought and felt tension return to her shoulder blades.

Searching for fresh batteries in her utility drawer in the kitchen, she jumped at the sudden banging on her front door. For one brief moment, she wondered if her mother had given Vince her address. Her door bell went to work, clanged loudly several times in quick succession. Clearly whoever was beyond her door was impatient for her to answer. She glanced through the peek hole once, took a step back, and then stared out the hole again to make sure she wasn't imagining things.

What was Will Darcy doing at her house at 1 am?

There could only be one explanation for his presence here at such an hour. Before he could ring her doorbell again, she jerked the door open causing the security light to bathe the landing to her apartment in light.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong with Charles or Jane?"

He stood blinking at her. "No, nothing's wrong with them. I just saw them off at the airport." His bow tie was undone and hanging loose around his neck. His air was mused. He glanced at his wrist watch. "They're probably over a fifth of the way to England in my private jet."

Charles had refused to tell Jane where their honeymoon destination was. She gaped at him, "England in your private jet?"

"Yes. They're going to stay at my family's ancestral estate, Pemberley, for a month. After that they're taking my yacht to Greece, where they're borrowing my villa there for the rest of their honeymoon." He added in that same unaffected way he had, "It was my gift to them."

"Well, don't I feel cheap. All I got them was a place setting."

"I'm sure they'll love it." Came the snarky reply.

What a miserable, miserable man!

Elizabeth could literally feel her blood pressure rise with her temper as they stood there facing one another. She knew she was being rude not inviting him in to her apartment but she could not fathom why he was on her doorstep at this time of night. She wasn't sure she should let him in without first obtaining that information.

A clap of thunder startled her. Over his shoulder, an amazing lightening display danced across the black sky. Seeing it, she backed up into the living room. She was scared of storms. Still he did not enter. He remained rigidly on the landing waiting like some sort of unfeeling robot. Maybe he needed an invitation to come inside? Maybe he was a vampire? A happiness sucking vampire! She shook herself from her silly thoughts. Besides, she reminded herself, she'd seen him more than once outside during the day under a perfectly good sun.

"Oh, just come on in, Will. It looks like it is going to get nasty out there."

Before he took a step over the threshold, his eyes cast about the room before coming to rest on her again. "I thought maybe you might be entertaining. I don't want to intrude."

"Do you think I'd answer my door if I was "entertaining" someone? And, if you didn't want to intrude, why are you here in the middle of the night doing just that?" Really, he could have simply called her. It wasn't like he didn't have her number. Or he could have emailed, tweeted, texted, face-booked her like any other normal sane person. Then again, she couldn't imagine Darcy being the 'selfie' sort. She crossed her arms in front of her waiting for him to explain his presence here.

"I'm assuming those are rhetorical questions." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. When he spoke, his voice was crisp and even. "You're probably wondering why I am here."

"Figured that out by yourself, did you Nostradamus?" She was definitely too tired for him tonight. She was just about to suggest he leave and take his puzzling behavior with him when they skies parted outside and torrential rain flung against the open windows in her living room. It was as if God himself was out to get her today. "Crap!"

Springing into action to secure the window in her small apartment, Elizabeth dashed from the living room, to the kitchen, to the bathroom and finally to her bedroom. It was with great reluctance she shut the two small windows there. With her air conditioner perpetually on the fritz, she was not looking forward to sleeping in such stifling heat. Pressing her forehead to the cold glass in futility, she whimpered. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was going her way today. There was no way her night could get worse.

Then, Elizabeth turned and found herself nearly colliding with Darcy. He was standing like a statue in the middle of her bedroom, letting his indifferent attention drift about her room. She grimaced at the clothes that occupied her cramp closet floor. She darted forward shutting the door, explaining to him. "It's been a hectic two weeks. With the wedding and everything, there hasn't been time to do laundry."

He said nothing as his eyes continued taking in the unmade bed, her nightstand, the impossible to ignore vibrator on said nightstand. Her lamp was like a spotlight for the sex toy that was standing proudly underneath it. She felt all the blood drain from her face as it became quite clear from his expression that he had noticed her date for the evening too.

Just kill me now!

Elizabeth wished the ground would just open up and swallow her. She rounded on him. "Will, why are you here?"

While her brain was busy asking her, "Why had she answered the door? Why had she let him in? Why had she let him follow her to her bedroom?" As soon as she found out nothing was wrong with Charles and Jane, she should've shut the door in his face and left him to drown in the storm outside. She could just imagine what he was thinking of her at the moment. A woman so desperate for release she had to provide her own! Moving quickly, she tugged him by the arm back into her living room. She went straight to her front door.

"Not that I can't say this was fun." Embarrassed, she opened it and waved her arm.

He didn't take her hint to leave. Instead, he looked . . . . agitated. For a man who showed little to no emotions over the course of their acquaintance, there was a decidedly unhinged look about his features tonight. A hand rushed through his curls and she came to understand why his hair was in disarray. He finally said, "Charles told me you still have not been able to find a job."

Out of all the possible things he could have said, she would never have guessed he would say that. Yes, it was true. Like many people, she was unemployed. She was surviving on her meager savings. She crossed her arms in defense again. "That's right, Will. I suppose you came all the way across town in the middle of the night to offer me a job?"

"Yes." He had come here at this hour to offer her a position? To employ her? There was an odd fervor in his eyes. "That's exactly what I've come here to do. I want to hire you."

Stunned, Elizabeth shut the door to her apartment. She wasn't sure how her Culinary Degree could be used at his electronics firm. Maybe he needed someone to work in his cafeteria? She'd been to his workplace once during the planning of the reception and to co-ordinate the bridesmaids and groomsmen. She'd been impressed at the ultramodern facility in general, but did she really want to work for him? True, serving him food in a hairnet really was not one of her life's ambitions. But, heck, it was a job. She couldn't afford to play a snob when rent was coming due.

Elizabeth wished she'd grabbed her robe when she was in the bathroom. She'd never been on a job interview before in her underwear and felt decidedly under-dressed. "When would I start?"

"Immediately." His voice grew husky. He blinked and made another pass at his hair. "I am willing to pay you fifty-thousand dollars for three months of work. Does that sounds acceptable to you?"

So much money? She doubted seriously that they were talking about her working in the cafeteria at his firm. She licked her lips. She remembered her cousin had one of those games on her cell phone. Cooking Mama, wasn't it called? Maybe, he wanted her as a consultant for some sort of game he was developing?

"What exactly would this job you're offering me entail?"

His eyes drifted over her in that disapproving way he had. It made her feel like a bug he wanted to squish under the heel of his foot. "I am interested in cohabitating with you."

A loud earth shaking clap of thunder rocked the area at the same time she was not sure she heard him correctly. There was no way she had. "Excuse me," she pressed a hand to her ear, then laughed. " I thought you said co-habitation, like I'd be living with you."

"I did. You would. For the next three months." He nodded, his gaze earnest, never once leaving her face. "I need you to be at my beck and call. Around the clock. It is the only way I can get my project done."

"Beck and call? " Was he serious? "Around the clock?"

"Yes." He sat down on her couch uninvited, placing his palms on his thighs. Like a robot would!

Her mind scrambled for a logical conclusion. Maybe he wanted her to be his private chef? The very rich often had them. Maybe his current one was going to go on vacation. "You want me to cook for you?"

"If you like. Or, we could eat out." He chuckled then, a pleasant sound she'd never heard before, as if he had just told a private joke. His gaze warmed changing his expression as if his features were coming through melted ice. "All I need for you to do is agree to participate in some tests for a project I am working on."

Drawn to him, she sat on the arm of the sofa feeling as if she was trying to piece out some sort of riddle. She was intrigued in spite of herself. "Do these tests have something to do with your 'top secret project'?"

"The tests I want to conduct are actually vital to its success."

And, he wanted her help? Maybe his top secret project had something to do with food? Feeding the homeless? That would definitely be on par with some sort of catastrophic event and use her unique skill set. "What kind of tests would we be doing?"

"Just some measurements, tests for sensitivity."

"Sensitivity?" She enunciated the word as if it was a foreign language trying to piece together what sensitivity and food production had in common. Could he be doing some tests for food allergies? "What kind of sensitivity?"

For a moment, he was in a debate with himself and she wondered if he was going to continue talking at all. His gaze met hers and held. In his aggravatingly calm clear voice, he said, "I'm interested in your nipple sensitivity, Elizabeth."

A wave of shock quivered throughout her body. She squeaked, "Nipple sensitivity?"

"Yes." He leaned forward, "I also want to know how your body feels when you orgasm."

There went her earlier thoughts that he had nothing to say to amaze the room!

In fact, Elizabeth sincerely believed that for the rest of her life nothing would amaze her more than Darcy sitting across from her like an automaton talking to her in a clinical manner about her nipples and orgasms as if he were her gynecologist. Not even her mother had been able to shock her to this extent and she had years of practice. Clearly, she'd not drunk enough at the wedding tonight. She stood with every intention of going to her front door and throwing him out but her feet refused to move.

"Did you just say orgasm?" She questioned.

"Yes, when we have sex."

Elizabeth sat down heavily again on the sofa arm. Could she have been struck by lightning? Button down, proper, Will Darcy wanted to hire her to have sex with him? He looked patient. As if, he had asked her to pass the salt at dinner. One cool customer. She finally was able to find her way out of her labyrinth of disbelief.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Will, but I'm not comfortable with the idea of being someone's prostitute. Even a well paid one."

"Prostitute?" He scowled a strange configuration on his tranquil face. "I'm wouldn't be paying you for sex, Elizabeth! No, no. Not at all. My interest in having sex with you is not about sexual gratification. It is purely for scientific purposes."

"Scientific purposes?" She had to give him points for creativity. No man had ever proposed she jump into the sack with them in order to forward science.

He fiddled with his watch looking almost impatient at having to explain the matter. "You asked a few days ago what I was making at Darcy Electronics. I am making a female companion."

This just kept getting better and better. "You? You're making a sex doll? You're kidding, right?" Laughter bubbled from her before she finally realized what was happening. "You need to tell Charles he is awful for putting you up to this. You really had me going there for a minute. A sex doll, what a hoot!"

Only, he wasn't laughing with her.

His serious expression could have been cut in granite. "You know me well enough to know I don't joke, Elizabeth. This is a serious offer and I need you to approach it as such."

His admonition made the humor die in her throat. He continued, "I need access to you. More than I have now. I need unrestricted access to your body whenever I want it. I need to catalogue the feel of your hair, the softness of your lips, the weight of your breasts, the swell of your hips, the curve of your ass. I need to memorize every salacious inch of you. Only then, do I want to experience you sexually and bring you to orgasm."

Elizabeth almost forgot to breath, finding his admission to be highly arousing. It must be the fact he was always so naturally reserved. To hear him talk about her, and in such a way, was shockingly hot. For one moment, he almost seemed like a normal horny male. Albeit, in a mad scientist kind of horny male. A male she could drag back to her bed and give him a whole new appreciation for the items he catalogued.

However, her mind screamed, this is William Darcy!

Elizabeth was dumbstruck. She opened her mouth and closed it several times, but no sound was produced. They'd known each other all these months and never once had she considered him capable of this. She'd never imagined he had a sex life at all, so it was hard to reconcile him having such interests. More discombobulating was the fact that in all those hours they shared, she could never have guessed that he found her in the least bit desirable.

Of course, her answer was no. A resounding no.

Unaware of the nature of her thoughts, Darcy concluded. "As I stated, we will start out with some easy tests. I'll need to compare Xy to you textually. We'll start with your hair, you skin. Then, we'll move on to your lips." He wet his own, cleared his throat. "Then, your breasts. Your Venus cleft. As I have stated, when the product is close to completion we'll start the sexual trials."

My God, was she sweating? She needed air. "Oh, yes, the sexual trials."

"During which, I'll wear condoms. I insist that you take birth control. I think we'll both agree that we don't want an unwanted pregnancy resulting from this experiment. I just want the data I need to finish my project and you will be handsomely reimbursed for your time. And, when the ninety days are over, we'll go our separate ways. You said at the wedding you don't want to continue the dinners with Charles and Jane so when would we see each other?"

Elizabeth processed this. She was already on birth control to regulate her periods. As far as him wearing condoms that was a given. She never had unprotected sex and she certainly wouldn't be starting with someone downright freaky as him. She agreed about wanting to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. Though she loved children, she didn't want one right now. She could barely take care of herself. If she was searching for a partner to raise her child with, she would definitely not pick someone so clinically cold as William Darcy. Though, their children would definitely have good genes. She shook her head. What was she doing, thinking about condoms, birth control and babies when she was never going to go along with this scheme of his.

"I have simple tastes, Elizabeth." He actually reached across to her and took her hand in his. "I like sex in the morning when your body is naturally aroused. I like giving and receiving oral stimulation. I prefer the missionary position, but I'm well versed in all the positions in the Kama Sutra. I don't care for anal sex, but I'll forgo my distaste for it if you like it. If you prefer vibrators to me, we can experiment with them." She felt her face flush at the reminder and she attempted to pull back her hand. He held on to it, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "I will try anything you think will give you pleasure. If you prefer having more than one sexual partner at a time - "

She had to know in that can't look away from a wreck sort of way. "You've been with more than one woman at a time?"

He dropped her hand and stood up, turning his back to her. "My last girlfriend preferred it when we brought home another woman or two to join us."

"Your girlfriend brought home other women for you to have sex with?" He couldn't be serious. "And you didn't like that? Most guys would kill for that."

"Yes, Cheryl felt it somewhat daunting to keep up with my sexual demands and she suggested that we bring other women in to help satisfy them. No, I did not enjoy having multiple women at a time as much as I thought I would. We broke up when I refused to continue."

There were so many questions she wanted to ask. "Charles told us that she cheated on you."

"He assumed she cheated on me. I didn't correct him when he asked. It was easier to let him believe that then the truth." His eyes hardened. "Anyway, after my relationship ended with Cheryl, I started working on Xy."

"Why don't you just hire a prostitute or two?" She asked trying to be helpful. She was struggling to maintain her composure. "Or three?" Hell, Darcy had enough money, he could buy his own personal Bunny Ranch.

"I'm trying to make you understand." He shook his head, "Not just any woman will do. Xy has to be special. I need you to make her special. She has to turn me on so I can have sex with her whenever I want, as much as I want. I don't have to worry about unrealistic expectations that women develop in a relationship. After I am done with her final touches, I will be free to turn my attention on other worthwhile projects."

Even as what he was proposing revolted her, Elizabeth couldn't help feel somewhat flattered by his offer. And, a little sad for him. Obviously, his ex-girlfriend had pushed him quite literally over the edge. What type of woman would make him feel like he was odd because he liked sex? Most men liked sex. Hell, most women she knew liked it too. She did. A lot. A part of her, a strangely foreign part, wanted to know if she'd be able to succeed in keeping up with his sexual demands or if he'd wear her out as he had his ex-girlfriend.

Shaking herself mentally, she reminded herself she was going to say no. There was no way she could ever say yes. It was only to satisfy her curiosity that they were continuing this conversation. He wasn't interested in her sexually she told herself. He only wanted her for some strange freaky science fair project. How freaky would it be?

"Would I be hooked up to sensors and stuff? Like in 'Masters of Sex'?" It was her mother's favorite show. She had been forced to binge-watch the first season with her mother two weeks earlier. She bit her bottom lip, some of the scenes in the show would definitely be fun to reproduce. "Would we be in a lab somewhere? Would there be people watching us?"

He seemed to be expecting these types of questions. "The tests I conduct will be done in the comfort of my penthouse. I don't need to know about your heart rate and the like so we won't need sensors. You won't be hooked up to anything but me. I'll be comparing you textually. With regards to the sexual trials, I will go from being inside you to testing products designed by my scientists. Other than keeping me hard, you won't have to do anything else. I just need to find which materials best approximate your vaginal walls. I imagine a side by side comparison will be needed at that point." Again, his proposal was having an odd effect on her. She found it hard to sit still. Glancing down, she saw that her nipples had hardened. Her thin shirt was not much of a barrier to her response to him. He sat down again, took her hand in his. "It will be private, Elizabeth. Tasteful. You won't have to do anything you are not comfortable. I will do my very best to arouse you to the point that you orgasm every time we have sex."

"Every time?" She wondered, "And, how often would you imagine we'll have sex for your experiment to be successful?"

"I imagine when we get to the sex trials that we'll have to have sex a couple of times a day. Once I narrow down the materials, we can have sex whenever you want until our ninety days are up."

A couple of times a day? Wow! "When would the sex trials start?" No, Lizzy, no!

"Around the sixty day mark. However, if the other tests go well, perhaps sooner."

She frowned. Two months of these conversations? She wasn't sure if she could wait that long.

He had continued, "The only thing that I imagine will be invasive will be the equipment to film us. To document the experiment, I will need to keep video records of our sessions for later review."

He wanted to make videos of them together? There was no way she was going to have sex videos out in the world and be perpetually concerned that in might surface someday on some porn site somewhere where her parents could stumble across. Videos always came back to bite you in the ass.

"No videos, Will. If I agree to do this, I must insist there will be no videos."