Noah had to stop this madness before it got the best of him. The Famiglia was his priority and she had become one of his subjects ever since she swore omertà. That was the only relation the two of them should have.
Untangling himself from Inéz’s grip, he got up and put on the sweatpants that were lying on the chair by the door. He strapped his holster over his naked chest and moved towards the door, but stopped in his tracks as he saw from the corner of his eyes slight movements of the sheets. His eyes moved to the bed, meeting a tired pair of big brown ones.
Inéz smiled at him warmly. "Good morning," she rasped.
At this point, Noah’s plan to stay away got pushed back to the furthest part of his mind. He was never huge on spending the night with any girl and usually left right after fucking. What’s more, none of them had received access to his penthouse. It was his home, his personal space that was supposed to stay intact, unsoiled. But he didn’t mind making an exception for Inéz. A feeling of excitement and some kind of unexplainable peace overruled his decision.
"Buongiorno, cara."
Inéz sat up slowly, looking out the window. "What time is it?" she asked.
"Few minutes after seven. You can sleep if you want. I am going downstairs to make myself a coffee, and then I need to head out to take care of business," he said, surprising himself.
Since when was he explaining himself to anyone? Let alone a woman?
The girl seemed to catch up on his thoughts and chuckled. "I’m famished, so rather than going back to sleep, I’d prefer to eat breakfast. And I have to get to practice in a few hours," she said with a snort of displeasure.
The Caponodded and opened his door, waiting for her to grab her clothes from yesterday so that they could go to the kitchen. As they were coming down the stairs, they heard the sound of glass clinking. Noah drew his gun, knowing immediately that it couldn’t possibly be Isaac or Drew making the noise. They like sleeping in and, most importantly, they don’t cook.
"Stay here," Noah whispered and carefully moved forward. As he was halfway down, he lowered his hand, a loud groan escaping his lips. He motioned for Inéz to join him. "Has no one warned you not to appear out of thin air in my house?" he asked as the both of them walked towards the kitchen counter.
There was an older, short woman with curly, white hair and a warm expression covering her face. With a dismissing wave of her hand, she returned to cooking, not even looking towards Noah. She started mumbling something in Sicilian under her nose.
Falcone rolled his eyes in annoyance. And responded to her, which made the woman look up. Her gaze rested on Inéz. She smiled and moved to them, enveloping the girl in an embrace out of blue. Another torrent of words rolled out.
"Inéz doesn’t understand you, Noni. She’s Spanish," Noah explained.
The woman waved the man off once again. "The girl can speak for herself, boy."
"Clearly you don’t wait for anyone to talk. There’s just so much you have to say, isn’t there?"
"How can you survive more than an hour with him?" the woman asked, looking at Inéz expectantly. "And since my grandson isn’t gentleman enough to introduce me, I’m Luisa Falcone. The only woman in this goddamn family who tried more than once to give Noah away. No one would have him, unfortunately."
The girl nodded, an embarrassed smile on her face. "I can see why."
Luisa hummed. "I like her." She tapped the Capo’sarm appreciatively and turned to Inéz. "I made you pancakes. Help yourself, picciotta."
Breakfast went pretty smoothly. Noah could see how uncomfortable Inéz had looked at the beginning. She didn't expect to meet a member of his family, especially in such an awkward situation. It didn’t take a genius to realize that they had slept together. Besides, Luisa Falcone was a very perceptive woman. Thankfully, she was also the kindest person who would never even think of making anyone feel bad. Throughout the meal, she made many jokes and told Inéz all about her life in Sicily, and now in Las Vegas, as her grandsons had decided to bring her to the States to keep an eye on her and make sure she was healthy and doing well.
Sicilians were people of great appreciation for traditions, and especially the Sicilian mafia was built of conservatives, who didn’t see fit changing something that had worked through generations. Women were supposed to protect their reputations by not meeting with men outside of their family without anyone supervising them. Marriage was considered a sacred ceremony, binding a woman and a man in holy matrimony, and there was no greater honor than when you cherished and nursed the connection between spouses. More importantly, they usually marry Italians, not outsiders. So naturally, the most traditional members of the Sicilian mafia would be against Inéz spending time with Noah, as they would believe it would lead to marriage.
Luisa Falcone, however, lived in a reality where those beliefs had been rejected when theSicilian Famiglia hadbecome a part of Cosa Nostra. Noah was known for breaking traditions just as his father had before him. But while there still had been remnants of the old ways when Marco had beenCapo, now, even more, was changed rather than not. However, appearances had to be upheld so that there would be no mutiny among Made Men. The approach towards religion, marriage and family was everything for Sicilians and even Noah wouldn’t be able to push against and change those deeply ingrained notions. And he didn’t want to touch those topics as he was also a firm believer as far as family went. But not everyone deserved to be part of
