Yves just stared at me, the corners of his lips twitching occasionally like he still couldn't believe what was happening. Honestly, I knew the feeling. It was like there were a thousand butterflies squirming in the pit of my stomach, and my skin shivered with a cold electricity, everywhere but the small of my back, where Yves still had his hands resting.

Unable to shift the smile off my face, I beamed at him. "You're a geek," I giggled hysterically, my eyes shining.

He flushed, his eyebrows tightening. "What?"

"Sorry," I laughed, trying to stop myself. "It's just so funny."

Forgetting for a moment that I was insulting him, he grinned back. "And you're . . . you're here," he muttered. My smile wavered for a second as my heart clenched tightly. I'd found my soulfinder . . . how amazing was that?

Suddenly, I was beaming again. "I know."

He laughed, a light, heartfelt sound that made my insides squirm in excitement. "You want to get out of here?"

"Is that a trick question?" I chuckled.

Slipping a hand into mine and holding it tightly, Yves turned back and led the way into the lecture hall. It still wasn't very full, but I still had to bite my bottom lip to stop myself disturbing the few people there were as Yves strode straight down the far left side of the room and back toward the others. Reluctantly, he let go of my hand as he shifted down his row to collect his jacket.

"Hey, I'm leaving!" I hissed quietly at Coleen. Not taking her eyes off the man giving the lecture, she waved a hand dismissively. Lifting an eyebrow, I shrugged and snatched my jacket and purse up.

"What's going on?" one of the boys behind us suddenly asked a little louder, and Coleen shot him a disgusted look. But he wasn't paying attention. He was scowling curiously between me and Yves, who was still grinning like an idiot.

"Explain later," I shrugged, snatching his hand back and pulling him away.

"What?" the biker guy scoffed, only half amused.

"Relax Zed," Yves frowned. "It's fine, I'll catch up with you later." Turning away again, he led the way to the end of the row of chairs.

"Des!" Jessie called in protest, standing up with a scowl. "What the hell are you playing at?" All around her, people were shushing and glowering irritably, but even Coleen was watching me worriedly.

I rolled my eyes and smiled wryly. "Trust me, I'll explain later."

"And what happens when your parents ask us why you ran off with a guy you've just met?" Jessie snapped. "They'll go mad, Des!"

"Then don't tell them," I shrugged, and the boys behind gawped. Without explaining any clearer, I pulled Yves toward the exit and slipped out of the lecture hall, laughing to myself.

"What was all that about?" he asked the second we were out of sight. I shot him a quizzical look, still smiling as his fingers tightened around mine. "Your parents."

My smile wavered a fraction, and he blinked in surprise. "Please don't ask about them," I pleaded quietly.

"Don't they work in the Net?"

I sighed heavily. "That's technically asking about them, Yves. But yes, they do. They're great people, but they're . . . difficult, shall we say? More my mother, really, and I . . ." I trailed off for a second when I realised he hadn't the faintest idea what I was talking about. "Can we leave it for now please? I'll deal with my parents later."

"That sounds . . . ominous," he commented dryly.

"You have no idea."

He hesitated a moment, then shook the thoughts away and smiled as best as he could as we pushed the doors open and stepped outside back into the sun. "So, first time in New York?" he asked, unclipping a pair of sunglasses from his shirt and replacing them with his regular glasses.

I nodded, my grin returning. "Actually, it's my first time aboard." God, he looks good in those, my mind muttered at me as I eyed his sunglasses.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Where about in New Zealand are you from?"

"Christchurch," I replied immediately. "My Dad is originally from Scotland though. Emigrated when he was younger and met my Mum. How about you? You live here?"

Yves shook his head, oblivious to the group of girls hovering outside the conference building, gawping at him. They turned away pretty quickly when I glared in their direction. "I live in Colorado. A little town called Wrickenridge in the Rockies."

"Wow," I blinked, quickly putting my expression right when he glanced at me. "I bet it's beautiful over there."

He smiled. "It is. Hopefully, you'll get to see it someday."

I couldn't help grinning back. "Sounds good to me."

"In the meantime, what do you want to do today? Central Park? Times Square? Statue of Liberty? The Empire State Building?" I laughed lightly as he waved down a cab, flushing slightly. "Since it's your first trip here," he added.

Still smiling, I stretched up on my toes to plant a kiss on his cheek softly as the cab drew to a halt in front of us. "The park," I answered. "I want to be able to talk for a while, since I don't actually know you." Yves pulled a face, holding the door open and letting me climb in first.

Settling beside me, he told the driver where to take us, then leant back and tried to relax, his eyes flicking toward me occasionally. "I'm not going to disappear, you know," I chuckled, shuffling a little closer.

"Good to know," he nodded. "I just . . . I still can't believe it's actually you." He stared at me, speechless, and for a moment, I worried there was something wrong.

"What do you mean?" I asked carefully, my fingertips twitching beside me.

"Well, I always thought you'd be . . . you know, more like me, I guess," he shrugged.

I lifted an eyebrow, slowly leaning away from him, and his expression faltered. "Meaning?"

"It's nothing bad," he rushed, shifting on the spot. "I just always presumed you'd be a little more reserved, you know? A little less popular."

Something began to tingle in my chest awkwardly. Was he trying to call me shallow? After knowing me for all of ten minutes? "How do you know I'm popular?" I asked, a little harshly, and he scoffed before he could help himself, eyeing me in disbelief. "What?"

"Have you seen yourself in a mirror lately?" he questioned, and I felt my cheeks flush. I had to admit, I knew I looked good. I had no worries about my self-appearance. I was perfectly comfortable with the way I looked. But that didn't mean this guy, soulfinder or not, could take one look at me and decide he knew me better than anyone else.

As if he could tell what I was thinking, Yves frowned. "I'm being a jerk, right?"

"What was your first clue?" I muttered back darkly, folding my arms over my chest.

He sighed heavily, twisting in his seat to look at me. "Sorry, I'm not really very good at this," he grimaced, a little embarrassed. "I'm not like the rest of my brothers. I'm not that good with girls."

Despite my best efforts, I felt my irritation dissipate slightly. "Good," I commented, glancing at him with a frown.

"What?" he blinked, astonished.

"Oh, yeah," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Like you don't notice all those girls drooling over you." His cheeks suddenly burnt red, and my eyebrows rose. "Seriously? You actually don't notice?" Slowly and uncomfortably, he shook his head. "Christ, Yves. You might be a science geek, but you're a hot science geek. I thought that much was obvious."

If anything, that just made him more uncomfortable, which in turn made me smile. It was something of a novelty, being with a guy as modest about his looks as Yves seemed to be. My last boyfriend had been that vain, he'd carried a compact mirror in his back pocket everywhere he went, just in case the wind was bowling a little too hard and it messed up his hair. We hadn't stayed together long.

The cab drew to a halt outside a vast, green park, and Yves leant forward with what looked like far too many dollar bills. "Keep the change," he muttered, leading the way out of the cab. Taking my hand in his again, he managed a quick smile in my direction and started toward the park entrance.

Central Park was beautiful. The lake was glistening under the sunlight, and kids shrieked loudly as they chased their parents across the grass. Elderly couples lined most of the benches, most quietly enjoying each other's company and watching families eat picnics in the shade of the trees, or dogs chasing sticks.

Smirking at Yves's discomfort as we continued to walk hand in hand through the park, I decided to cut the guy some slack and change topic. "So, what does your family do?"

He took a deep breath, shaking away our last conversation and cautiously meeting my gaze. "They run the ski slopes back home," he shrugged. "And they work in the Net, too. That's actually why we're here."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course it is," I grumbled. Trust my parents to conveniently forget to tell me that the only reason I was allowed on my first trip aboard was because I'd be surrounded by Savant Net members.

Yves glanced at me curiously, but decided not to ask. "What about your parents?"

"They run a security firm," I answered. "My eldest brother, Cameron, is a NYPD cop, Frankie is a teacher in a primary school, then there's me, and my youngest brother, Leon, who's four, so he doesn't do much more than eat and sleep. Do you have siblings?"

He snorted. "Six brothers," he grimaced at me. "You've already met two of them back at the conference. That was Zed and Xavier. Then there's Will, Uriel, Trace and Victor."

"Any of them met their soulfinders?" I asked curiously.

He grinned, his eyes shining. "Zed has," he nodded. "Just before Christmas, he met an English girl called Grace. They argue constantly, but they seem happy enough, so most of the time we just leave them to it."

"Most of the time?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow when Yves laughed lightly.

"Zed sees the future," he explained. "And Grace can turn back time, or at least, she can make you think she is doing. She's pretty much always been in control of her own actions, and Zed constantly winds her up when he sees another premonition. She hates him seeing her future, but since she's closer to him than anyone else, she's usually the only one he does see these days."

"Sounds tough," I commented thoughtfully, running my thumb across my fingertips. I wondered what Yves's gift was. Would we clash like that?

"Then there's Uriel and Faith," he continued with a heavy sigh. "Faith had been kidnapped when she was young by a criminal family called the Kellys, and Zed and Grace managed to break her out not too long ago."

I choked, faltering in my steps. "They did what?" I breathed, wide eyed.

Yves frowned cautiously, like he didn't understand what I was so surprised about. "It's a long story," he said slowly. "Basically, the Kellys were working for another man who was trying to get to Grace and her brother, so they kidnapped Zed to get her to move out into the open. While she was helping Zed escape, we learnt Faith was there. At the time, Zed thought he needed Faith's help - that's an even longer story - so he and Grace broke her out, not too long ago. She wasn't in good shape though. As far as I know, Uriel still hasn't managed to get her to talk to him."

For a moment, all I could do was stare at him in shock. Not only was he talking about severely dangerous situations like they occurred daily and were nothing more than a minor inconvenience, but he'd said his brother had not only been caught up in it all, but his parents had encouraged him to go back into the danger to help someone else. If I had ever even entertained a thought like that, my mother would've killed me herself.

"Are you alright?" Yves frowned.

"Fine," I lied, shaking myself and clearing my throat. "I just can't believe you all went through that much trouble, that's all."

He shrugged. "Comes with the territory, right?"

"I wouldn't know," I admitted carefully. "My parents are incredibly overprotective." He hesitated, opening his mouth to comment before closing it again quickly. Whatever he wanted to say, he obviously thought better of it. Taking my hand in his again, he continued moving, taking a deep breath and changing the subject once more.

"Everyone's a little busy trying to help Thea at the moment though, since Faith won't let any of us near her," he told me, oblivious to my internal struggle. I wanted to pay attention to him, but I was stunned. Did all that mean my parents faced things like that as well? How much were they protecting me from? I shook myself, staring up at him and forcing myself to focus, determined to shake thoughts of the Savant Net out of my mind. But looking at Yves didn't help much. I'd been right before; he was hot. Seriously hot. The longer I looked, the more I saw it. I found my eyes trailing over his cheekbones, and his jawline, and the curve of his bottom lip, and suddenly, my heart was fluttering weakly in my chest.

"Destiny?" he blinked. "Did you hear me?"

I shook myself, blushing slightly. "No, sorry, what was that?"

He lifted an eyebrow. "I said it's tough for Thea, not being able to help. But at least now there's one less to do, right?"

I stared, sure I should understand exactly what he was talking about, but I hadn't a clue. I'd been far too busy admiring my soulfinder's face. Nothing wrong with that, I thought to myself.

"Are you alright?" Yves frowned. "Maybe we should get you out of the sun for a while."
I smiled slightly. "No, I'm fine, honestly. Just distracted."

"By?"

"You," I answered honestly, and he flushed again. I laughed. "Sorry, start again. Who's Thea?"

Yves's lips twitched. "Alex's soulfinder."

"And who's Alex?"

"Grace's twin brother."

I frowned in thought. "And Grace is . . . Zed's soulfinder?" I grimaced cautiously. Yves nodded, smirking slightly. Apparently, his embarrassment didn't stretch far enough to stop him being incredibly pleased that it was so easy for him to distract me. "Right. And how was Leah trying to help again?"

He sighed. "Thea," he corrected, and I scowled at him. "And she's a soulseeker. She's supposed to be able to look into your mind and find your soulfinder for you."

I gawped. "Really? Is that possible?"

Yves nodded. "That's how my parents found each other. Dad knew a soulseeker. Are your parents soulfinders?"

Instinctively, the question made me shudder. "No," I blurted, a little too quickly, and Yves blinked. "And please, do not bring that up when you meet them, alright? Oh God, and don't mention Thea either."

He frowned. "Why not? I know she can't do anything at the moment, after all the problems with the Kellys, but she could help your siblings find their soulfinders. I'm sure she'd be more than willing to do it."

I gulped hard, shaking my head. "Can we change topic please?"

Without answering, Yves pulled me to a halt and grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "Why do I get the idea your family has a serious problem with soulfinders?" he glared, and I was torn between being very protective over my family, or very protective over him. How was I supposed to explain why my parents were most likely going to despise him?

"It's a long story," I grimaced. "And I'd really rather not ruin the day with all that, so can we please forget it for now? I swear, I'll explain soon, just . . . just let me break the news to them first, okay?"

He hesitated, straightening out with a dark expression. "They won't be happy?"

"Honestly, I have no idea how they'll react," I admitted glumly.

For a moment, it looked like he was going to argue and make me tell him. Then, he sighed heavily and took a step closer. My stomach clenched tightly, but I didn't move, watching in surprise as he let one of his hands rest on my waist, the other wrapped tightly around mine. "Trust me, if we can handle Grace's father, we can certainly handle yours," he muttered dryly, and I had a feeling there was more to that, but I never got chance to ask.

His hand slipped from my waist and his arm wrapped around me, pulling me into his chest carefully and making me gasp involuntarily. Hesitating a fraction of a second, he slowly lowered his lips to mine, and I shivered in anticipation. In my experience, such gentle, cautious kiss weren't usually this good. No one had affected me like this before, and I'd honestly never been so nervous in my entire life.

He pulled back, leaving me shaking slightly in his hold. The flush was suddenly back again. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I'm not good at this."

I couldn't help laughing at him. "Actually, you're very good at this," I assured him quietly. He blinked, and before I could chicken out, I took his face in my hands and kissed him quickly. "It's my fault," I told him. "I'm not used to being around guys like you."

At that, he straightened. "Like me?"

"You know, one of the good guys," I shrugged with a small smile. "The guys back at my high school were all arrogant jackasses."

"Oh." He wasn't flushing again, so obviously he hadn't taken that as the compliment I'd thought it was. Of all the things I'd told him today, why was it the one I thought meant most seemed more upsetting to him?

Stop overthinking, I scolded myself again.

"Come on," I sighed, shaking the thoughts out of my mind. "I need to eat."

The rest of the day was easily the best day of my life, punctuated with small moments of incredible awkwardness. I soon learnt that Yves wasn't just a geek, he was a genius, and a rich one at that. He talked a lot over lunch about the sort of work he did, but I wasn't really listening. I found myself captivated by the glint in his eyes as he talked excitedly, my own eyes drinking in as much of him as humanly possible. The one part I did pick up on was that he mentioned Grace's name a lot. Apparently, she was reasonably smart herself. More so than me, anyway, and I had a feeling he found this sort of conversation a lot more interesting with her. But the thought annoyed me, so I tried not to dwell on it too much. Besides, Grace was his brother's soulfinder. What was I worried about?

He asked a lot of questions about me, too. My hobbies, my school, what I wanted to do with my life, and oddly, I found I didn't want to tell him. I'd never done badly at school, but after listening to him open up about his own life, I felt strangely stupid. Academic subjects weren't ever my strong suit, and he didn't seem at all surprised when I admitted my hobbies were mostly sports, like volleyball or tennis. One thing he couldn't get his head around was the fact I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

"Seriously?" Yves blinked while we were sat in a café eating lunch.

"Why's that so surprising?" I frowned. "Most of the things I prefer doing are sports, and I can't go into that. I already have trouble keeping people from getting suspicious at school."

"So did my brothers," he nodded in agreement.

"I'm just not the kind of person to sit down and study," I shrugged, dropping my gaze. I knew he wouldn't understand, not when he was obviously so wrapped up in his own studies.

Sensing my discomfort, he reached over and wrapped a hand through mine. "You'll find something," he told me gently, and I managed a tight smile in reply.

We went to the Empire State Building after that, and conversation became a lot less intense, which inevitably meant I was much more comfortable. We laughed and joked easily, and as time progressed, I spent more and more of it wrapped in his arms. In the end, we didn't spend much of it admiring the sights. After looking forward to this trip and seeing New York, I'd arrived to pretty much disregard everything but Yves Benedict.

We were heading out of the Empire State Building when my phone gave a shrill ring from my pocket. I scowled, knowing it was only a matter of time before my mother broke through my little bubble and ruined the day. And that was before I told her about Yves.

"Are you going to answer that?" he asked me with a small smile.

I found I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to send it back. "Depends on who it is," I admitted as I pulled the phone out of my pocket. The caller ID read Jessie, so with pursed lips, I lifted it up to my ear and answered it. "Jessie, this really isn't a good time."

"Good time?" her panicked reply came. "Are you kidding me? Your parents just got here, Des, and since you aren't here, they're freaking out already!"

"Can't you stall them?" I groaned.

"You realise who we're talking about, right?" she hissed back. "Look, I don't know what's up with you and that guy you ran off with, but get back here. Quickly!" Without waiting for an answer, she hung up irritably.

I glowered at the screen, and Yves pulled me closer. "Something wrong?"

"My parents," I grumbled. "I have to go."

His face straightened, and if I'd been in a better mood, knowing he was going to miss me as much as I'd miss him might've made me smile. "Are you alright?"

"No," I shrugged, coming to a halt. He stood in front of me, close enough that I could smell his cologne. "But you were right. We'll handle it."

He frowned at me in concern. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Yes, but that's probably not a good idea," I replied wryly. His frown deepened. Sighing heavily, I put my phone away and pulled a pen out of my purse. "Here's my number," I told him, scribbling it on the back of his hand. "And the hotel I'm staying at. My parents and I are going to dinner with Cameron tonight, so I'll tell them then, and I'll see you again tomorrow, right?"

Yves smiled slightly. "If you want to. My parents are going to want to meet you."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow."

Before I could move away, he pulled me into his chest and kissed me deeply, his hands clamped around my waist. My heart fluttered furiously, and it took me a moment to collect myself enough to kiss him back.

"You know, you're probably the first guy I've ever been nervous around," I admitted weakly when he pulled away.

He blinked, surprised. "Really?"

I smiled. "See you tomorrow, Yves."

"See you later, Destiny."

Biting my bottom lip, I waved a cab down and climbed into the back, already hating the growing distance between me and my soulfinder. How was I going to break this to my parents? Would they ever accept it? And what was going to happen if they didn't? I couldn't just go back to New Zealand and forget Yves existed, not now.

You're just going to have to put your foot down, I thought to myself.

Great. My only option was to start World War Three with my mother. This should be interesting.