Chapter 8: A Relaxing Day

The next morning Ray made a few phone calls to some people he knew that could come over to check the entire house for bugs and cameras.

While he waited for them to arrive, he went to check on a hunch he had.

When he had checked the garden a few days earlier he had seen scuff marks on one of the walls, presumably where the perpetrator had climbed it.

He took a ladder with him and checked the spot where he assumed someone went over. He got up the ladder and on the wall.

At first he didn't think there was anything but just when he was about to come down again, he saw something between the bushes on the other side.

Ray couldn't let himself drop on the other side of the wall, cause he wouldn't be able to get back up, so he decided to go and get another ladder.

When he got to the bushes, he finally saw what it was that he had spotted. It was a little black box, a receiver. Probably for the camera, he thought.

He was about to pick it up when he thought of a better plan. He climbed back over the wall. He decided to call Sam to see if he was okay with his plan.

"Sam, hey, it's me…... No, nothing's wrong, Liz is just fine. Listen, the reason I'm calling you is because I think I found the camera's receiver…Yes, I found it in the bushes on the other side of the wall…Well, I was about to take it when I thought that maybe this is a way to catch the bastard"

He explained to Sam that he'd thought about putting up a camera, pointing towards the receiver. That way, if the stalker came to collect it, they would catch him red handed.

"That's a brilliant plan, Ray" Sam said enthusiastically, glad that there was finally a way they might catch the guy.

When Ray's men arrived to inspect the house, he spoke to the head of the group about setting up a camera. He also explained what he needed them to do and the men set off to work. They needed to sweep the entire house, so Ray thought it would be best for Liz and him to leave the house for a bit.

He went looking for her and found her in her room.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked as he entered the bedroom. His mattress was still on the floor next to Liz's bed.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you" she smiled.

"Listen, I have a group of men sweeping the house now, so I thought that maybe we could play a game of tennis and leave them to it?"

"You play?"

"As a matter of fact I do. I'm no Andy Murray, but I can hold my own on the court" Ray winked

"Okay, let's see about that then", Liz said amused, "Let's get changed and we'll meet downstairs in 5"

They both got changed. Ray was wearing white shorts and a light blue T-shirt and Liz a short, white and pastel pink tennis dress. They walked to the tennis court together. Liz had her own racquet, Ray used Sam's.

"Alright, let's just hit a few balls to warm up before we get started", Liz suggested and they did for a few minutes. It was very warm so they started sweating pretty quickly.

"Okay, you want to serve first?" Ray asked after their warm up.

"Sure"

Liz served hard but it was an easy ball for Ray to return. They seemed to be at about the same level so it was a good game.

After playing for about half an hour, Liz started to get a little distracted by Ray. She had already noticed his nice ass in his very short shorts of course, but seeing him running around really made her notice him even more.

Ray was equally as distracted. Seeing Liz in her short dress, running around the court made him see her in a different way. Not just that she had a sporty side to her, but her dress started to cling to her body from the sweat and left little to the imagination.

He was just looking at her long legs when Liz hit a ball hard in his direction and he was too distracted to see it coming. It hit him right in his balls.

"God!" Ray gasped as both his hands went down to cup his hurt genitals. Ray got on his knees; his eyes squeezed shut in pain, "Aaww!"

Liz saw it happen and her eyes got wide as she clasped her hand over her mouth in horror.

By the time she got to Ray he was already lying on his side, knees up to his chest, one hand still gripping his parts.

"Oh my god, Ray, I'm so sorry!" Liz said, crouching down at Ray's side.

She put her hand on his shoulder "Is there anything I can do? Do you ehm, need some ice maybe?" Liz asked, not sure what to do.

"No, that's fine…just give me a moment…" Ray managed to whisper

Liz looked at him terrified. She never meant to hurt him, yet here he was squirming on the ground. "Can you get up? Or do you prefer to stay where you are?"

"I'll stay right here…just…can you hand me a bottle of water?"

Liz got up to fetch him some of the water that they had brought with them.

"Here you go"

"Thanks. Okay, this is embarrassing" Ray said as he slowly sat up, avoiding eye contact.

"I'm so sorry, Ray…. I didn't mean to aim directly at you. Besides, I thought you would definitely get that ball"

" I meant to, but I guess I wasn't paying attention or something" Ray said as he pressed the bottle of water against his painful privates. He didn't want to do that in front of Liz, but he knew it would make the pain more bearable.

Liz tried not to look but couldn't help but notice the bulge in Ray's shorts.

After a few more minutes, Liz helped Ray up and they made their way to the wooden bench at the side of the court.

"This doesn't make me much of a bodyguard now does it?" Ray chuckled as they sat side by side on the bench.

"Well, I guess men have their weak spot" Liz smiled, "I'm really sorry though"

"It's okay Liz, I know you didn't mean to"

"So, I guess that's it for playing tennis, huh?"

"Uhm, yeah, sorry. It's too hot anyway, don't you think?" Ray asked

"Yes, we would be better off in the pool right now", Liz pondered without realising she just made an offer to go into the pool.

"That's a great idea! Let's get changed. I can use some cool water"

They both went to their rooms to get changed into their swim gear.

While in his room, Ray wasn't sure what to do. Should he leave his shirt on? He knew Liz had already seen his burn scars on the night he stormed into her room to save her from a spider, yet he felt very vulnerable without his shirt.

In the meantime Liz was in her room searching for her best bikini. She knew she had a killer body but she couldn't help wanting to look extra good. When Ray agreed to go to the pool, in her mind she had already started to go through her bikini collection.

She settled on a navy blue one with some matching sandals, grabbed a big towel and headed out. As if on cue, Ray and Liz came out of their rooms at the exact same time.

Ray was wearing red and white swim shorts and had a towel draped over one shoulder. He wasn't wearing a shirt and Liz couldn't help but eye Ray's strong upper body. He had such toned muscles and his biceps were to die for.

They went to the pool and Liz grabbed a volleyball on her way to the sunbeds where they dropped their towels. Ray walked over to the pool and took an elegant dive in. When he came up, Liz threw him the ball and dove in herself.

Wow, Ray thought, she looks amazing in that bikini. Even better than the black one I saw on her before.

They went to the middle part of the pool where they could both stand and where the water was up to their waists. They started playing the ball back and forth between them and they were having good fun. It was way better than being in the hot sun on the tennis court.

One ball that Liz hit back to Ray went outside the pool and Ray climbed out to get it. Liz noticed the scars on his back again and contemplated whether to ask Ray about it or not.

"Nice one, Liz" Ray said as he got back into the pool, "I didn't know the palm tree over there was playing too" he winked.

"Oh, keep it up mister and I will hit you with the ball, instead of the tree"

"Yes, you seem very good at that…. Well, at least in here, my balls will be safe" he laughed as he played back the volleyball.

Liz tried to give Ray an angry look, but couldn't manage it and it took mere seconds before they were both laughing.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Liz started carefully after a while.

"About what?" Ray asked

"Erm…those scars on your back…. can I ask what happened?"

Ray's face immediately went dark. "It's just something that happened while I was serving with the Marines"

Liz felt it was clear that he didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't ask for more details. She couldn't help but wonder though about what had happened to him.

After they grew tired of volleyball, they just swam for a bit. Ray told her about his family. Apparently he had a brother living not too far from them and Ray was thinking about going to see him and his family soon.

"Yeah, family is important, you should definitely go and see them" Liz said

"You can come if you want" Ray blurted out, thinking it would be nice for Liz to be around some other people sometime. He never expected her to say yes anyway.

"Yes, why not? It would be nice to meet your brother" Liz smiled, totally surprising Ray.

"Okay then, let's do that sometime this week. I'll give him a call"

A few hours had passed and the men were done sweeping the house. They hadn't found anything else. Ray felt a feeling of relief going through his body.

Later that evening they all had dinner together and after that they decided to go to the home cinema to watch a movie.

"Okay, so what shall we watch?" Liz asked, excited that her dad actually had time to watch a movie with them.

"Why don't you choose something, sweetie", Sam said while getting drinks out of the small fridge next to the huge movie collection.

"Let's go for a comedy, shall we?" Liz asked while looking through the movies

Liz eventually went with 'Naked Gun', one they had all seen before but would love to watch again.

They had a good laugh and it felt great to forget about their daily problems for a bit.

Come bedtime Ray and Liz got ready and even though the house was clear, Ray still went to sleep on the mattress next to Liz's bed. He knew Liz felt better if he did and he wanted to save her from having to ask him.

After Liz had turned out the light Ray heard her letting out a heavy sigh.

"Are you okay?" he asked

"Yeah…. I'm just glad they didn't find anything in the house today. I was afraid the entire place was bugged"

"Yes, me too. That's a great thing though, although we're still not closer to finding whoever did this" Ray said, quickly adding "but we will"

"Yes, I'm sure. Thank you for today. I had a really good time. And sorry again about…. your balls" Liz said, trying to hide her smile.

"That's fine, Lizzie. It taught me to be more careful around women with racquets" he grinned

That remark got him a pillow right in his face…..