Chapter Seven: It Was Only A Matter Of Time

Rayleigh woke the next morning with a smile on her face. She had a peaceful, restful sleep and was excited to start the day. She lay in her somewhat comfortable hotel bed, looking out the window at the bright blue sky. Sunlight was streaming in and for the first time in a few months, Rayleigh didn't feel like the weather was mocking her. And Mike, was the reason.

Mike, made her feel happy. He made her laugh, but she could be serious with him at the same time. Rayleigh smiled as she stretched, still looking out the window at the blue sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and for Rayleigh there was a worry in her mind. Slowly, she sat up, looking at the time on the alarm clock. She had an hour, before she had promised to meet Mike for breakfast in the lobby. Normally, she wouldn't have felt as if that was enough time, but with Mike, she didn't feel as if she needed to be 'on' all the time. She could sit and relax and have a calm, meaningful breakfast with him, without having to be all dolled up.

Groaning slightly, she stood up and made her way to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she saw her hair was sticking up in every direction possibly. She grimaced as she looked at her reflection.

She stepped into the shower, hoping that maybe, after washing her hair that wouldn't look so…terrible. While she didn't feel the need to be 'on' all of the time, she still wanted to at least try to look good for Mike, it wouldn't be fair to him if she didn't.

Hot water streamed down her body, scalding her skin slightly as it rinsed away any grime that was on her body, as she lathered her strawberry scented shampoo throughout her long silky hair.

"No one compares, you stand alone to every record I own," she sang quietly, as she finished her shower, slowly stepping out, not wanting to accidentally slip and dislocate something. Opening the bathroom door, after wrapping a towel around her, she stepped out and into her hotel room.

"You never sang in the shower, when we were together," said a voice, behind her, causing Rayleigh to jump. She turned around, clutching the soft towel tightly to her naked body.

"John," she shrieked, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I wanted to apologize about what happened," he explained, turning around, so that Rayleigh could put something more than just a towel on.

"So you had to break into my hotel room while I was in the SHOWER to tell me that you're sorry for cheating on me," she asked, as she quickly slipped on the complimentary hotel robe, "Have you fucking lost your mind, John?"

"Yeah, probably not the smartest thing, I've done…not counting-"

"Yeah," Rayleigh said, holding her hand up to stop him, "John, we've already talked about this. After…It doesn't matter anymore, John, we're over and I've moved on. You don't need to feel guilty about it anymore. Neither one of us knew," John nodded and made his way to exit her hotel room.

"I'm sorry, Rayleigh," John said, stopping at the door, "for everything." Rayleigh watched him walk out the door. It was over, she didn't feel any animosity towards him, but with those five little words, everything just seemed to be more at peace. More than it ever had before. Grabbing her blow dryer, strraightener and cosmetic bag from her suitcase, Rayleigh began getting ready for her breakfast date with Mike, a smile on her face.

Her iPhone was blaring her music throughout the hotel room as she blow dried her hair, wanting to get the same shine she had last night. Suddenly, her phone signaled that she had gotten a text, running from the bathroom; she went over to her phone and looked at the text.

'Change of plans, do you just want to have breakfast in my room? We'll order room service when you get here – Mike xo' said the text. Rayleigh smiled and then looked at the outfit she had laid out the night before. She thought about it for a moment and then decided not to change it. The outfit was comfortable enough to just have breakfast in his room.

'Okay, I'll see you in half an hour – Ray xox'

Rayleigh finished getting ready, listening to her music and then grabbed her suitcase, after packing everything she had used back up. She wanted to drop all of her things at Adam's hotel room, so that he could take it to the arena with him and Jason, so she wouldn't have to worry about forgetting it, while having breakfast with Mike.

Locking the hotel room behind her, Rayleigh made her way towards the elevators. She stood quietly waiting for the elevator to arrive with her Louis Vuitton luggage behind her.

"Rayleigh," said a male voice behind her. Rayleigh took a deep breath. Of course, she was going to have to run into this one. Randy Orton caught her just before the elevator doors opened.

"Rayleigh," he said again.

"Hello Randy," she said, turning towards him slightly.

"We haven't spoken in months," he said, as he joined her wait for another elevator. Rayleigh huffed and tried her best to ignore him.

"Come on Rayleigh, I've said I'm sorry," he complained, "You've already forgiven, John-"

"Randy despite what you might think, John isn't completely off the hook," Rayleigh explained, "His guilt eats at him constantly especially since we found out about…and Randy, the reason you're still on the hook, because despite me repeating it, you don't actually know why you keep apologizing. Let me know when you figure it out.' Rayleigh gave him one more look, before stepping onto the elevator making sure that the doors closed right behind her.

She took a deep, calming breath. Randy was working on her last nerve. As much as he apologized, she had this little voice in the back of her reminding her, that he had betrayed her trust as much as John had. Maybe even little more than John had. She had been honest with Randy about everything, and all she wanted was that in return, even if it would hurt her and that didn't happen.

Walking off the elevator she walked towards her brother's hotel room and dropped of her luggage, before walking towards Mike's room, which was just down the hall. She could feel Adam's eyes on her, as she stopped in front of a hall mirror to quickly check her hair and make-up. She took another calming breath before walking up to the door and knocking on it.

Mike woke with a smile on his face. It wasn't often that he woke up like this. He looked out the window and smiled. It was yet another beautiful day, a beautiful day to utilize the balcony for a wonderful breakfast with Rayleigh. It was with that thought that another thought hit him.

He grabbed his iPhone off his nightstand and quickly shot her a text, and when he received her reply just as quickly, the smile on his face grew wider. He slowly got out of bed. He was glad thing with Rayleigh were going good. He really liked her. She wasn't like the other girls that he had taken out. She actually made him want to try for a relationship, instead of just trying to bed her only after a few drinks. Maybe it was the fact that her brother could knock him out with a single spear, the fact that she had her godfather along with half of Creative in her back pocket or maybe it was the fact that he actually enjoyed spending time with her. It was probably the latter.

He started to get ready and then called room service. He knew that he had told Rayleigh that they could call room service, when she got here, but he wanted to surprise her with a beautiful set-up out on the balcony in the fresh air and good, delicious breakfast.

"Can I get a stack of buttermilk pancakes and two small bowls of fruit with two cups of coffee," he asked the operator, "Yes, yes and bring it all to room 2415, and make sure that it's brought up before 10 o'clock." He quickly hung up and then continued to get ready. He was slightly nervous. It was one thing for a first date to go well. He was the King of First Dates, but he usually had a problem with the second date. He was usually bored, uninterested and couldn't wait to get away from the girl.

"Room service," said a voice from the door. Mike quickly pulled on a shirt and went to open the door. The nice young man, rolled in the breakfast tray.

"Where do you want," he asked, as he rolled the tray into the room. Mike pointed him towards the balcony, where had had already started to set the table, the best he could.

"Leave it," Mike said, as the guy tried placing it all on the table, "I'll do it." The young man quickly left the room, as Mike took a quick look at the cart. He didn't want to uncover the food, it would be cold before she would have even arrived. He however did place the two different plates in front of the chairs and then the vase of flowers in the middle of the table. He smiled. Everything was almost ready, he just needed Rayleigh to arrive and then came a knock on the door, causing him to look at the clock. 10 o'clock, right on the dot.

"Just on time," he whispered to himself, as he walked towards the door. As he opened the door, his smile grew even wider, as Rayleigh threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him in a hug. He kissed her forehead and brought her inside.

"Good morning, darling," he whispered to her.

"Morning, my love," she said, causing him to smile down at her.

"I thought we'd have breakfast out on the balcony," he told her, leading her over to the balcony doors. She looked outside and saw how he settle table. She wrapped her arms around him again, nuzzling her head into his neck.

"Thank you," she whispered, "It looks wonderful." he walked her over to a chair and gently pulled it out for her, waiting for her to sit in it, before he tucked it back in.

"And they say chivalry is dead," she joked, as she watched him pour her a cup of coffee. Mike laughed and smiled down at her.

"So how did you sleep last night," he said taking the seat across from her, fixing his own cup of coffee, as fixed hers.

"Very well," she said, "Probably the best of slept since..."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said, "I think the only reason, I was even able to sleep that night, was because of you." Mike smiled at her, as he served the pancakes to each of them.

"I thought it was weird you were able to sleep," he told her honestly, "I would have thought you would have been more hysterical."

"I thought so too," Rayleigh said, "but I really don't want to talk about that anymore. Tell me more about you."

"What do you want to know," he asked, "You already know mostly everything about me. My parents divorced when I was eleven, and I have a step-brother and step-sister and my father owns a chain of-"

"Sandwich shops," Rayleigh finished for him, "I know all that, just like you know that my father cut and run before I was born, and I was raised by my mother. Like what is your favourite colour?"

"Blue," he told her, with a smile on his face, "Yours?"

"Sometimes it's red, but it's mostly lilac," she told him, before sipping at her coffee. He watched her, as she folds her pancake in two with her fork and knife and then cut into it.

"How many boyfriends have you had," he asked. She looked up at him.

"I had two boyfriends in high school," she told him, "One lasted all of three weeks and that was because it was only for a bet-"

"Are you serious," he asked her, a look of fury on his face, "A guy actually did that to you?"

"Yeah," she said, "If he went out with me for three weeks, he got three hundred bucks, but whatever, he got his ass kicked by my brother. The next one lasted two years and we broke up on good terms, because we didn't want to do the long distance. After that I didn't really want to date, but then I dated John after a couple of years in the WWE. So I had three boyfriends, so far. Girlfriends?" Mike hesitated.

"Mike," Rayleigh said, leaning towards him slightly, "I know what you use to do, but I want to know how many honest to god relationships you've had." Mike took a deep breath. He knew that this would around eventually. She had been completely honest with him and now she needed to be completely honest with her.

"One," he said, "It was back in college. I had been going out with this girl for about three years, when I found out that she had been sleeping with my best friend the entire relationship." Rayleigh gasped.

"That was why you were so supportive," she said, "It had happened to you."

"Yeah," Mike said, now trying to avoid it. Rayleigh sensed his uncomfortableness with the subject, and quickly decided to change it.

Mike waited for her to walk out the door, before locking the door behind her with his luggage.

"Where's your luggage," he asked, "I know you didn't bring any with you."

"I dropped them off at my brother's hotel room, before coming over," Rayleigh said, "He promised me that he would bring it with him to the arena."

"Do you have a match with him tonight," he asked her.

"No, I just have to do this segment with him though, because you know how they have that match scheduled for you and him at Summer Slam," she said, "Well, they want me to 'talk' with him about it."

"So, you do have to work tonight," Mike asked, as they walked towards the elevator, his right arm wrapped around his shoulder and his left hand pulling his luggage behind them.

"Just for a little bit, but other than that I'm a free agent until then and until our flight to Houston," she explained, smiling up at him and she leaned into him. Mike looked down at her and smiled. He wanted nothing more than to give her the kiss, he kept trying to give her last night. She saw his slight distress on his face. Rayleigh leaned up and pressed her lips to his, not caring if anyone, more specifically her brother, godfather or brother's best friend caught them. She had enough of playing by their over protective rules. It was time to live her life, her way. Rayleigh began to pull away, when Mike followed her, kissing her again, not letting her get away.

Rayleigh smiled into his kiss. It was intoxicating; she couldn't get enough of it. They had kissed multiple times on camera, but this kiss, this kiss was something like out of a movie. If she was going to be honest with herself, she had never been kissed like this before. Not by John, not by her boyfriends in high school. Finally they pulled away from one another when they heard the ding of the elevator. Rayleigh walked in first, followed by Mike.

"Wow," she whispered, but it was loud enough for him to hear her.

"Wow is right," he said, chuckling under his breath. Rayleigh looked up at him, wanting nothing more than to kiss him again, but the elevator door opened again and there in front of the doors stood Kaitlyn. Rayleigh went stiff, as Kaitlyn boarded the elevator. Neither one of them were looking at each other and Mike could cut the tension in the elevator with a knife, it was so thick.

No one spoke until the elevator reached the lobby. Kaitlyn got off as soon as the doors opened, her luggage rolling clumsily behind her.

"So that was intense," Mike said, as he walked off with Rayleigh, his hand on her hip.

"Sorry about that," Rayleigh said, "It's just-"

"She was the other woman," he said, completely understanding.

"I don't want to let her bother me, but that'll always be in the back of my mind." Mike nodded and walked her over to where some of the other Superstars were gathered, with a few of the Divas.

"Ray," yelled the perky Barbra, also known as Kelly Kelly, who was also Rayleigh's best friend in the company.

"Hi B," Rayleigh said, as she walked towards her giving her a big hug.

"I just saw Kaitlyn running out of here," Barbra said, as she pointed towards the hotel entrance, "What was that about?"

"Mike and I met her on the elevator," Rayleigh said, looking towards Mike, who was watching her, while he spoke to Matthew and Curtis, she waved back at him, causing Barbra to smile.

"Hon, you are falling so hard for him," Barbra said, as she watched the exchange between the two.

"I know, B, I just can't help it," Rayleigh said.

"So how, did your date go last night," Barbra asked, as they were joined by Natalya and Beth, "You have to tell us, you've been keeping tight lipped about it for the past twenty-four hours." Rayleigh laughed at the statement.

"That's because, twenty-four hours ago, I didn't even know I was going out with him remember, he asked me out after the little segment with Ronald, Vince, Steve, Kevin, John and the two of us," Rayleigh said, causing the other two to laugh, "I'll tell you all about it though, on our way to the arena."

"Can you at least tell us, if the two of you have kissed," Natalya asked, as the four of them made their way towards their cars.

"You know we have-"

"We don't mean those, Ray. Like have you kissed off camera," asked Beth.

"Sorry ladies, but I don't kiss and tell," Rayleigh said, causing all three girls to squeal with laughter.

A/N: Let me know what you think…

xo