Against All Odds

Riley stepped into the elegant bathroom and was at once enveloped in a cocoon of timeless luxury. The blend of modern comforts seamlessly intertwined with the room's original late 1800's design, creating a sanctuary where the past and present harmoniously coexisted.

A claw foot tub stood as the centerpiece of the room. It's smooth porcelain surface gleamed in the soft glow of the vintage-style sconces that lined the walls. Intricate floral patterns adorned the tiles, a nod to the Victorian era's love for botanical aesthetics. Riley took a moment to appreciate the delicate balance between old and new as he prepared to draw his bath. The polished brass fixtures sparkled with a lustrous sheen, a testament to the meticulous care given to maintain the room's historical charm.

Riley turned the faucets on and was met with a gush of water cascading into the tub. The water's soothing melody echoed through the room, filling the air with a tranquil ambiance. As the tub filled, Riley added a few caps of foaming bath oil then watched as the bubbles frothed and danced along the water's surface. The flicker of candles placed carefully around the room gave off a warm and inviting glow, creating a play of shadows, dancing across the floor, and enhanced the beauty and overall serenity of the room.

A small table sat beside the tub, holding a crystal dish with rose-scented bath salts, providing an extra touch of indulgence. Riley wondered if that had been Noah's doing, knowing of Riley's love of roses. Riley smiled as he sank into the warm embrace of the water. The tub cradled him in a blanket of comfort. Bubbles clung to his skin and tickled his nose. He closed his eyes and let the warmth of the water seep into his muscles. He was almost completely submerged, only his head remained above the water and for the moment, all his stress and worries seemed to evaporate.

Leaning back against the tub, Riley allowed his fingers to trace the edge of the water, creating ripples along the surface. It had been so long since he'd indulged in the peacefulness and quiet of a long bath. Something so simple and yet taken for granted until it's gone. Riley hadn't even realized how much he missed just being able to lounge around, carefree with no responsibilities or expectations. No one banging on the door to hurry up, and no little children barging in on him demanding his attention. It was just him, the water, and his thoughts. The only thing missing was Noah.

Riley grinned, giddy like a teenage omega with his first crush. He couldn't help it though. The day had just been too perfect, and it all started with that kiss. Riley's mind began to wander as thoughts of Noah and the days events filled his head. And then, there was the anticipation of what was to come.

"Be ready." Noah had told him before leaving the room. "I'll be back to get you at six." Riley couldn't wait to see what Noah had planned next. The day had already been so wonderful, so special. There was no way it could get any better, was there?

With the world outside momentarily forgotten, Riley settled down, into the soothing water, and allowed his mind to take him back, reflecting on everything that had happened since that first, glorious, kiss.

***

When they had first left the greenhouse, Riley wasn't sure what to expect. There was so much to do, so many details to iron out. Riley was off work for the weekend, which was a rare occurrence, but he did have to return on Monday. He dreaded it but it was important to him to keep that small bit of independence. After-all, he didn't feel right about Noah covering all of his expenses. That wasn't why Riley was there. Sure he wanted stability, a real home, and something better than what he had but he wasn't some gold-digger, out to take Noah for everything he was worth and Riley was determined to prove it. He'd get by with what he had and accept help when he needed it but he wasn't going to be greedy and he certainly wasn't about to take advantage of Noah's hospitality.

Noah didn't seem worried by any of Riley's concerns at all. In fact, he almost seemed amused by Riley's stance on self-reliance, as though he were merely humoring Riley. Riley suddenly got the sneaking suspicion that Noah had something more up his sleeve than Riley had anticipated. Riley had to admit, it was a bit exciting. He couldn't begin to guess what thoughts were going through Noah Reaney's head but, from the look in his eyes and the cheeky grin on his face, it was something mischievous and he looked far too pleased with himself, leading Riley to think that his rule of 'don't spend money unnecessarily on me' had pretty much gone ignored.

"Why are you suddenly grinning like the cat who just ate the canary?" Riley asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Noah chuckled. "No reason in particular." He was obviously lying, this made certain when he looked at Riley and gave him a sly little wink.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" Riley attempted to sound stern but failed at it miserably. He just sounded way too eager for anyone to believe that he was actually upset with Noah's plotting. In reality, he was looking forward to it. Anything Noah had planned would be a welcomed surprise. As long as Riley got to spend more time with Noah, he didn't care what they did.

"Let's just say that I plan to make your first day as an official resident of Reaney Hall as memorable as possible."

Riley leaned his head against Noah's shoulder, as he wrapped his arms around the strong alpha. "It already is." Riley whispered softly. "It already is."

***

Baxter, Noah's beta cook, was hard at work, chopping vegetables in preparation for the evening meal when Noah and Riley entered the kitchen.

"Baxter?" Noah called to him.

Baxter set his knife down and turned at once, greeting Noah with a huge smile. He was a short man with a round belly and a friendly personality. His smile seemed to light up the entire room and Riley immediately felt at ease in the man's presence. "Noah." He said, brightly. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"I wanted to officially introduce you to Riley." Noah told him. "He'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future." Noah turned to Riley, putting an arm across the younger man's shoulder and pilling him close. "Riley, this is Baxter, our amazing cook. He's been with us ever since I can remember, whipping up the most delicious of culinary cuisines. Bax, this is Riley Hicks, a friend I recently met online and began corresponding with. It's my hope that, in time, our friendship will develop into something more."

Riley blushed some as he extended his hand to Baxter. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He said.

Baxter wiped his hands on his apron then took Riley's offered hand in both of his as he beamed down at Riley. "The pleasure is mine." Baxter told him. "Please, if there is ever anything you need, do not hesitate to ask."

"Thank you." Riley smiled back at the man with sincerity. "I'll do that."

"Baxter, I have a special request for the dinner menu." Noah told him, once the introductions had been done. "I'll discuss it with you later."

"Very good sir." Baxter said with his normal, jovial, smile and tone. As Noah and Riley turned to leave, Baxter returned to his work, humming softly to himself as he finished chopping the vegetables, seeming to enjoy his work.

"He's very nice." Riley remarked as they exited the kitchen. "You said he's worked here for a while?"

Noah nodded. "Since before I was born. Most of the staff have, aside from Tina and Cal, our grounds keeper. Cal's been with us for about the last five years. You'll meet him later. He tends to keep to himself and rarely comes inside the house. He can usually be found in the gardener's shed out behind the greenhouse."

"So, he'll be my boss when I start working in the gardens?" Riley grinned up at Noah who raised an eyebrow at the question.

"You, Mr. Hicks, will be his boss." Noah told him, his tone stressing the importance of the statement. "You answer to no one in this house but me. I want that understood. You are not one of my servants. You are my guest and will be treated as such. If anyone gives you any grief you are to come to me immediately and I'll sort it out."

"Even your mother?" Riley asked, his mood darkening at the thought of Lilian's reaction when she realized that Riley intended to stay on at the mansion.

"Especially my mother." Noah said, his voice stern. "It's my decision who I allow to stay here, not hers and I won't have her questioning my choices."

"I really think she hates me." Riley said, leaning in closer to Noah.

Noah smirked. "Don't take it personally, she hates everyone."

***

Noah next led Riley to a small sitting room just off the main foyer. Like the rest of the house, the room was immaculate. Wood paneled walls enclosed the room, with wide windows that let in the sunlight, illuminating the rooms beautiful decor. A mahogany desk was set against one wall while a leather couch and arm chairs set in the center of the room. A large fire place took up much of the far wall directly across from the main door with a mantel of books resting above it.

Tina, the maid, stood near the fireplace while an older woman spoke to her about the days activities. Riley assumed the woman was Maggie, the head housekeeper as well as Tina's mother. Maggie was an attractive woman who was probably in her late forties. She wore a black pant suit that hugged her slender frame and black heels. Her hair was black with streaks of gray and pulled back into a neat bun, pinned to the back of her head. Despite her formal attire and professional appearance, Riley noticed that she had kind eyes that became apparent when she turned and greeted Noah.

"Good morning, Noah." She said, addressing him informally. To Riley's surprise, Noah walked up to the woman and hugged her.

"Morning, Maggie." He said in return. "Maggie, I'd like to introduce you to Riley Hicks. He'll be staying with us as my guest."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hicks, or do you prefer Riley?"

"Riley's fine." He told her.

"Well, Riley, we're glad to have you here." She told him, giving him a kind smile. "I've always said this old house needed some new life in it."

"Thank you." Riley returned the smile, feeling more at ease with each passing minute. With the exception of Thomas, Noah's staff seemed more accepting of Riley's presence in the mansion than he had thought they would. It was a great relief to him that the staff were so kind and welcoming. "The house is beautiful." Riley remarked. "When I first arrived I thought it was a hotel."

Both Noah and Maggie laughed at Riley's confession and Riley felt himself blush with embarrassment. Noah hugged Riley to him, smiling down at him. "I can see where you might have thought that. When I little I thought we lived in a castle. I used to ask mother where the mote was."

"What was her response?" Riley asked, trying to hide his giggle.

Noah grinned. "She said they filled it in after the alligators kept escaping."

"They're aren't really alligators around here, are there?" The three of them turned to look at Tina who was staring at them all with a worried expression.

Noah laughed. "Only in the more southern parts of the state." He told her. "But we do have several dragons."

Riley snorted a laugh and Tina frowned, rolling her eyes. "I was just curious." She said softly, kicking at the carpet with the toe of her sneaker.

"Riley, this is Tina. Maggie's daughter. I told you about her last night."

Riley recalled Noah mentioning her. Apparently she hadn't been employed as a maid for very long and still had a lot to learn but under Maggie's watchful eye, Riley was sure that the girl would do well. Her mother seemed patient and understanding.

"I'm glad to meet you." Riley said, approaching the girl. "I guess we met briefly at breakfast but I didn't really get a chance to introduce myself.

"It's okay." Tina said, regarding Riley with indifference. It became immediately clear to him that her attention was drawn to another. The entire time she had been standing there she hadn't looked away from Noah and when he approached her, her eyes lit up.

"Tina," Noah addressed her more formally than he had her mother, speaking to her as her employer rather than a friend. "Riley is going to be staying in the rose room. Could you please see that it's made ready for him?"

"Um...yes sir." Tina stammered as she stared adoringly up at Noah. "I'll do it now." Tina looked to her mother for confirmation and Maggie nodded to her, giving her leave to go about her duties. Tina hurried away, nearly stumbling over her own feet as she rushed past Noah out of the room. She took one last hopeful glance behind her, Riley saw the flush of pink on her cheeks as her eyes scanned over Noah. She sighed, brushed an errant blond curl away from her face then disappeared around the corner.

Riley felt a little bad for her. It was obvious that she was hoping Noah would notice her but he didn't. Instead, he was busy talking to Maggie about about schedules, deliveries, and other day to day goings on within the mansion. There was mention again of the rose room and Riley's ears perked up. He wondered, what was the rose room? If it was just another guest room, why did it have a name? Did all the rooms have names? It was probably theme related, like in one of those fancy bed and breakfasts. He'd heard of places with themed rooms like the Victorian room, or the roaring twenties room. Maybe it was something like that.

He pictured a room decorated in soft pinks and reds with a floral theme and at once, his eyes lit up. He was going to possibly be staying in a rose themed room. Nothing gaudy like in a honeymoon suite where the bed was shaped like a heart and vibrated when you plunged a quarter into the control box. No, a room in Noah's home would be classy, elegant...romantic. Riley couldn't wait to see it but Noah had other plans for the morning so the room would have to wait.

"I'm going to give Riley a tour of the house." Noah had told Maggie. He paused, then turned to Riley. "That's alright with you, isn't tit?" He asked him. "Would you like the grand tour?"

"Of course." Riley smiled, touched that Noah had asked him what he wanted instead of assuming that Riley would just go along with whatever Noah decided. He would, without hesitation, but it was nice to be included. Noah really was a gentleman, considerate and kind. He didn't just take charge, he considered Riley's thoughts and feeling and asked his opinion. If Riley wasn't careful, he could find himself falling head over heels for the man. Maybe he already had.

"I assume there will be no problems with getting the room ready by noon?" Noah had turned his attention back to Maggie who smiled a bright, understanding smile at him then tapped her pen against the clip board she was holding.

"Not at all, Sir. It's on the schedule. I'll supervise Tina myself. Everything will be just as you've specified."

"Good. Oh, and have his things taken to his room. It's the gray duffel in my room. You'll find it near the door."

"Of course, Sir. Anything else?"

Noah thought for a moment then shook his head. "No, I think I've covered everything." He turned back to Riley and they were about to leave when Noah stopped and addressed Maggie once again. "There is one other matter I wanted to mention." He sighed while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Normally I don't take issue with how the staff dress, you know that. As long as it's not something inappropriate. I didn't want to say anything to Tina directly and embarrass her but if you could please speak to her about her attire, I would appreciate it. Just let her know that white undergarments should be worn under a white top, not black, and it's not advised to show an excessive amount of cleavage. I know you've spoken to her about it in the past but she doesn't seem to have taken it to heart. If the problem persists then I will require she wear a uniform and since the maids uniforms haven't been updated since 1921, I doubt she'd be too thrilled with having to revive the style."

Maggie nodded, sighing in frustration. "I'll speak with her about it, of course. In the future she'll be dressed appropriately."

Noah grinned. "Thank you, Maggie. I appreciate it." Riley had to hold back a snicker as he and Noah left the room. Though he had to wonder if Noah wasn't at least somewhat serious about forcing Tina to wear the outdated maids uniform. It would have been funny to see her reaction when told she'd have to start wearing an ankle length black dress, white apron, and mob cap.

While Riley saw the humor in the situation and Noah's light hearted approach to the matter, he also saw the inappropriateness of what the girl had been wearing. Even cleaning the flea bag motel he worked for, Riley was required to wear a uniform. Nothing fancy. Just a navy blue, two pocketed smock, with a black collar. He usually wore black slacks or jeans. If he'd ever come to work dressed the way Tina had been dressed, he'd have been fired on the spot. Of course, Riley wasn't accustomed to wearing bras and had no cleavage to show but the point was, he couldn't show up to work looking like a bum. Even his shit hole motel had a standard to uphold. Employees represented the places they worked for so a bit of professionalism was appreciated and often times expected.

Tina seemed as though she had a lot to learn about the service industry but she was still young, eighteen if a day, and by the way that Noah had spoken about her the night before, Riley wandered if maybe he'd taken Tina on as a favor to her mother. Perhaps Maggie was trying to give her daughter some real world experiences to ready her for going out on her own, teach her some responsibility. It seemed entirely possible. Noah definitely seemed the type of employer who genuinely cared about his employees and would go out of his way to help them.

That was just another thing about Noah that Riley loved, his kindness and compassion to others. Riley had always thought that you could tell a lot about someone by the way he treated employees. Moat alphas were so hard-nosed and overbearing it made it nearly impossible to work under them. Noah wasn't like that though and Riley found that fact so endearing.

Hand in hand, Noah and Riley stepped out and into the main foyer once again. "You've seen the greenhouse." Noah said, turning to look at Riley. "Where would you like to go next?"

Riley looked up, shrugging some. "I'll let you decide." He told Noah. "This is my first time in a mansion, I wouldn't know where to begin."

"Okay." Noah said, looking pleased. "What about the theater? You seemed surprised when I told you we had a private theater. Would you like to start there?"

"Yeah," Riley grinned enthusiastically, "Is it huge, like a public theater?"

Noah laughed. "Not quite that big." He told him. His smile growing broader when he saw the excitement in Riley's eyes. "Come on, I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised."

Noah was right, the theater wasn't as large as a public cinema but it was impressive none the less. A large screen that took up an entire wall stretched out before them. Large speakers framed the screen on either side. Reclining leather seats were arranged in a gentle incline, ensuring an unobstructed view of the massive screen in front. Ambient lighting filled the room from the surrounding baseboards, dimming gradually when given a simple voice command.

The aesthetic of the room was crisp and modern but with a cozy feel that was both comforting and inviting. Riley saw the appeal at once. Here, Noah could experience a semblance of what it was like to attend an actual theater without leaving the safety of his home. It allowed him a safe haven without feeling so isolated. It was a way of still being a part of the world that he shut out. A way to stay connected without the fear or anxiety of being in public.