Cress had looked forward to Californian sunshine but, as she was learning, she had not been prepared for the immense heat that came along with it. The air around them was flickering, making Cress feel as if she were not just stuck in the middle of the Californian desert, but in the midst of hell.

Cress would have rather stayed in the car but because of the broken engine, the air-conditioning was down, too, and the inside of the Rampion made it seem like they were stuck inside an oven. Outside, the air was at least circulating, so Cress and Thorne were milling around the car. Well, Cress was milling around the car; Thorne was still trying to fix the engine after it had cooled down enough to touch. Judging from his colorful curses, though, Cress doubted he was having much success. But maybe he just wanted to have something to do. It was certainly better than just standing around, slowly melting away in the sun, like she was.

The heat might not have been a problem if Cress had been wearing anything but her business ensemble, consisting of a blouse, blazer and pencil skirt with tights and her high-heeled leather pumps. She had tried taking off her shoes but the hot pavement had burned the underside of her feet so much that she quickly hopped back into her pumps, rather enduring the strain that came from wearing high-heels instead. She also didn't want to take off her blazer. Surely, her blouse would sport huge sweat stains under her arms and around her back that she didn't want Thorne to see. She envied Thorne, who had taken off his shirt so as to not get it dirty. He was sweating, too, but unlike her unflattering stains, his back and torso just glistened in the sun, showing off every muscle.

He was handsome. Unfairly so. A bit unkempt and dirty, but more in a roguish kind of way that could easily be found in a Guess commercial. It was aggravating that he could look so effortlessly attractive while strands of her carefully-twisted braid had already come undone and every escaped curl was twisting itself in a frizzy mess. She didn't even dare to check her make-up, or what was left of it, in the mirror.

Thorne had even procured some expensive-looking sunglasses to complete his look while Cress was still squinting at the glaring afternoon sun. In his defense, he had offered them to Cress first and she had to grudgingly admit that he had been very gentlemanly about it. But with her small face, she knew the glasses would just wobble on her nose and maybe even fall to the ground. Recognizing the glasses' brand too, she had rather not risked it.

Although, it would have served him right. He had bought those sunglasses with the money he made from lying to all sorts of people. He didn't actually deserve them. Unfortunately, she couldn't rip them off his smug face and smash them, so she had to be content glaring daggers at his back.

"Seems like we're stuck," Thorne told her as he came out from under the hood, wiping his hands clean.

"I thought you said you were good with cars?"

Thorne shrugged. "I am good with cars. Everyone will tell you that. But I think we need to get it repaired by someone who actually works with cars for a living."

"Let's hope it's someone who doesn't just pretend to love their job."

"You're still going on about that?" He gave his hands one last wipe before he threw the oil-stained cloth back towards the car. "I personally don't care if they whistle while they work as long as they get my baby back on the road."

Cress bit her tongue. He should have known very well what she thought about him now, after everything he had told her. He hated weddings, he hated marriage—he probably hated puppies and kittens and ice cream, too. Cress racked her brain for anything that showed at least a bit of passion for his job when she remembered something she had read.

"The necklace!" She pointed wildly at her own collarbone. "Your grandmother's necklace! You gave it to a bride because she had no family heirloom of her own. That's not something one would do if they don't care for their clients."

"You've read about that too? I only looked up your website, but you've really done your research, haven't you?" He seemed flattered and it irked Cress to have given him that satisfaction. "It wasn't my grandmother's necklace. It's a cheap trinket which I sometimes lend the brides as a personal touch. Makes for a good story too. I tell you, the magazine ate that one up."

"You ... made it up?" The sweetest gesture she ever heard of - a fake? She didn't want to believe it even though she shouldn't have been so surprised. So far, he had not shown even an inkling of genuine love for his profession.

"Yep. And the best part is that since I never mention the bride by name, each one thinks I'm talking about them. Perfect publicity." He leaned against the car, obviously proud of his scheme.

Cress felt the last of her hope falter and die.

"Also, one of the weddings was in Hawaii and I really wanted to go there, so telling the bride the sob story about my grandmother's family heirloom she held onto during the war secured me a spot on the plane. Initially, they only wanted to consult me before they left for Hawaii. And so, Granny Thorne's invaluable jewelry"—he used his fingers to suggest quotation marks, mocking the cheap necklace—"got me a free trip to Hawaii. Which I extended, obviously."

Obviously.

What was there left to say? Cress could only think of one thing, but she was almost scared to bring it up. She felt the heat rising to her cheeks, not just because of the weather. She hoped he would think of her red cheeks as a result of the heat, not from embarrassment, as she braced herself to ask, "What about true love?"

Raising an eyebrow at her, Thorne seemed stunned for the first time since she met him. "True love?"

She nodded. "You said you were looking for the right woman. The one you were hoping to cross paths with someday but, until then, you said you would focus on the couples who had already found true love and make their day as special as you would love your own to be." Even as she said it, she felt the hollowness of those words. They had been full of meaning and promise to her but that was before she had gotten to know Carswell Thorne. Not the one she had read about in the magazines but the real him. Nothing she had read about him had been true, so Cress already knew the answer. "It was a lie, too, wasn't it?"

He didn't say anything for a long time but he didn't need to. If she were wrong, he would have corrected her already. When he finally nodded and said, "Yes," in a firm voice, it came as no surprise.

She was still curious."But why? Just for more publicity?"

"No, not really. Although it didn't hurt to mention it from time to time. More like, to let interested women know I'm still available. And very much straight." His eyebrows drew together as he considered his words. "Not that there's anything wrong with not being straight - I organized several same-sex weddings and let me tell you, that they were legalized was about time - but ... people stereotype guys in certain professions, so I'd rather tell everyone how interested I am in women before anyone could think otherwise." He gave her a one-shouldered shrug but it was more to make a point instead of a sign of embarrassment, she thought.

"I don't get it."

Thorne gave her a pointed look before reaching into the window and getting his water bottle. He offered it to her without a word but she didn't take it even though she was thirsty. He took a few sips of the probably warm water with a grimace before turning his attention back to her. "It's easy. At weddings, people get really emotional. See, everyone is swept up in this whole romantic affair: the music, the vows, the dancing, the lights, the flowers, you name it. There's this rush of excitement and some women start wanting to have something similar. Maybe not the whole wedding deal but at least they don't want to go home alone. A few well-placed words to susceptible ears and you basically have your pick of the attending women."

"You are sleeping with the female guests? During the wedding?!"

"What? No. Not during the wedding. Seriously, Cress, what do you take me for?" For the first time, he seemed genuinely offended by her suggestion. "First the money—that that guarantees my top notch apartment and retirement plans—then the women." When she didn't respond, he elaborated, "I get their phone numbers and call them later. Priorities."

"You are ... you are ..." She didn't know any other way to finish the sentence, so Cress added in a hushed voice, "A womanizer."

Thorne blinked at her in surprise before he threw his head back and laughed. "You're killing me. Where have you been all these years? Really, you should have visited much sooner." He seemed genuinely delighted and as much as he had mocked everything else before, Cress didn't feel like he was making fun of her. "I mean, has Kai talked about me at all? Because it doesn't seem like it. Rude, if you ask me. I wouldn't call myself a womanizer, though."

Cress had thought nothing could surprise her anymore but Thorne, once again, proved her wrong. "You wouldn't?" He scoured the weddings he organized for potential lovers (she doubted they were much more than that), what did he think he was?

He waved her question away. "Nope. I prefer 'ladies man.' A womanizer is chasing women, 'ladies man' implies that it's the women doing the chasing. And really, who wouldn't chase after me?" He struck a pose that might have looked comically on anyone else but with his shirt off, he actually looked like the ladies man he claimed to be.

When Cress didn't respond, though, Thorne faltered before walking over to her, his expression once again more serious. "Hey, why does this mean so much to you? If I love or don't love my job and everything. I mean, sure, I lied to some bridal magazines, but who doesn't? Let me tell you, most of those stories are fake. But you ... ," whatever he wanted to say, Cress would never know, because the loud sound of a honk interrupted him as a colorful Volkswagen bus came to a halt next to them.

The window of the passenger's seat door opened and a woman's head appeared. "Hey, you two need help?"

The smile returned to Thorne. "Yes, ma'am. The car broke down and there's something wrong with the engine. Any chance you could help us?"

"Not sure. I'll let my husband look into it." The woman turned back into the car and spoke a few words Cress couldn't hear. Then, a door opened and a man exited and walked towards their car. "This is Nils, my husband. I'm Jina, by the way. Anyone coming to get you?"

Admittedly, neither of them had even tried phoning AAA or anyone else for that matter. Thorne had tried to fix the car and thenhad gotten carried away with their argument. But Nils was already checking the car, and there was no point in waiting around any longer when they could take advantage of Jina's offer.

Apparently, Thorne thought the same thing because he responded, "No such luck."

"Where you headed?"

"L.A."

"L.A?" Jina went back into the car and said something, although to whom, Cress didn't know. Apparently, there were more people in the back of the bus, as she heard them laugh. Jina's head popped out again. "You're a few miles off then. Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere."

"We were driving in the wrong direction the whole time?!" Cress whirled around to Thorne who stood next to her. He scratched his chin with a sheepish smile before giving her a half-hearted shrug and left towards the car where Nils was already working.

Cress was so done with Carswell Thorne right now.

"No, not the wrong direction. Just a bit off. If you want to continue towards L.A., you have to take the next exit towards ...," Jina proceeded to explain the necessary turns she had to make but Cress didn't understand any of it since she had never been to California. But she pretended to listen attentively, although she would later use the GPS on her smartphone.

As Jina finished, Nils chimed in. "They won't be driving for a while, though. They need a mechanic." He took the cloth Thorne handed him, deep in thought. "There's a motel a few miles down the road where we can drop you off. You might want to stay there until the car is fixed or maybe the owner is able to help you." He looked at the car with, doubts wrinkling his face as he took in the overall state of it. "Although by the looks of the car, I'm not sure you can pay for it."

If Thorne was offended, he didn't show it. "Shouldn't be a problem. If you could take us there, that would be great."

"Sure. We have some space in the back."

"Great. Is there room for our stuff? We wouldn't want to leave it here unattended."

Jina considered. "Depends. How much stuff are we talking about?"

"Just a small suitcase and a travel bag."

"Okay. Might be a tight fit but sure."

Thorne went to retrieve Cress's luggage while Nils slid open the door of the bus. Inside, Cress could make out the hazy silhouettes of two men lounging on the floor. "You have company, guys." He turned to Cress, pointing inside the bus. "You can take a seat."

Cress didn't feel comfortable. Not at all. No sane person would ever enter a sketchy bus full of strangers. Thorne was mad if he thought she would do it and she couldn't believe that he hadn't even discussed it with her.

"Cress, could you help me over here?" Thorne called over to her from the back of his car. He was wearing his shirt again, slowly closing the buttons until he looked as presentable and clean as he did at the airport.

Reluctantly, Cress went over to where he waited for her. "I can't believe you're even considering this. We don't know them, Thorne. They could do God-knows-what with us on that bus." She kept her voice quiet, so Jina and the others wouldn't hear her but she made sure to pack as much venom into her voice as possible. "I'm not going in there."

Thorne's eyes flickered quickly over to where Nils was still waiting for them and he kept his voice just as low as hers when he said, "Cress, if you don't want to do this, I won't force you. We could wait for another car or call someone to pick us up. But we don't know how long that would take and I don't think spending the night here in the open is the better option. I would rather go to that motel. Maybe someone can help us there. If not, we could at least get a room there to spend the night—"

"I'm not going to share a room with you!"

"Two rooms, whatever." Thorne bent into the trunk and pretended to look for something but his eyes were still focused on her. "That's what I would do but if you're against this, I'll tell them to go and we'll wait. We'll figure something else out. I won't put you in a position where you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, Cress."

Cress swallowed. She did feel uncomfortable and unsafe. But he was right, they could just as well be forced to spend the night here on the road and that was hardly any safer. Jina seemed nice enough. And Nils did try to help with the car and told them about the motel. They wouldn't have done that if they wanted to harm them.

Right?

Taking a deep breath, Cress gave Thorne a shaky nod.

He returned it with a determined look as he grabbed her suitcase and handed her travel bag."I won't let anything happen to you, Cress."

And when he looked at her like that, with so much sincerity and conviction, it was hard not to believe him. Cress was surprised when she, despite everything that had happened between them, trusted him at that moment.

"Okay."

Cress grabbed her travel bag and she and Thorne made their way to the bus, where Nils was still waiting. He took her bag and stored it on top of another while Cress took in the two men who were lazily sitting on the floor. Behind her, Thorne and Nils looked for a way to store her suitcase.

"This is Kwende," Jina said from the passenger seat and one of the men raised his hand, "and that's Jamal." Instead of acknowledging her, Jamal just stared intensely at Cress, fixing his eyes on her as she climbed into the bus.

Cress mumbled a quick greeting and, since there were no seats, she also took a seat on the floor, cushioned by a musty blanket. A sweet scent hung heavily in the air and made breathing even harder without getting drowsy. It was way too hot, even with the door open, and she hoped that the drive to the motel wouldn't take long. Sweat stains or not, she had to take off her blazer, hoping that the dim light in the back would conceal them.

At long last, Thorne joined her on the floor, not before shaking the hands of the Kwende and Jamal first. And then Nils closed the door with finality and Cress felt truly trapped. She could only pray that she and Thorne hadn't made a huge mistake. Her heart was pounding and, as if he noticed, Thorne wound his arm around her back and kept his hand slightly, but soothingly, on her hip. Cress felt herself relax ever so slightly.

When Nils started driving, Thorne started to speak. "Thanks again for your help. If not for you, we would have probably waited for hours until someone came to pick us up. You said this motel was a few miles down?"

Jina gave a noncommittal sound."Give or take. It's one of those older motels that's a bit rundown now. It must have once been quite splendid, but you know how it is, most motels are not what they used to be anymore. Still, I think one of the owners might help you. They once repaired our baby here, too."

"You know this route well then?"

"Yes. We work at festivals, selling our stuff during the summer, so we get around a lot. What about you?"

"Just heading back to L.A. after I picked up my girl from the airport. We're still hoping to make it to dinner with the parents since they're waiting for us."

There were no parents waiting for them, though Cress assumed Thorne wanted to give the impression someone would notice if they wouldn't show up today anymore. It was a clever idea but Cress was more surprised by Thorne's casual reference to her as "his" girl.

"Ah." Jina turned to them and looked over the headrest with a knowing smile. "You know, at first, we thought we might be interrupting something, especially when we saw you all shirtless." She pointed at Thorne with a grin. "But then noticed that the hood of your car was open, so we went to check."

"And we're glad you did. It has been a long day and my girl's flight was redirected to Inyokern rather than to L.A."

"Oh no. How come?" Jina asked Cress directly, instead of Thorne. Kwende and Jamal were watching her and Cress felt like she had been put on the spot. Her mouth was dry from the heat and nervousness and she wished she had some water. She swallowed hard before answering.

"You see, my first flight was late, so I missed the connecting flight, too. And the next one that would have arrived in California on time was scheduled for Inyokern, so I took that one because the next flight to L.A. would have landed tomorrow evening."

As she told Jina about her trip, Cress felt the events of the day slowly catching up to her. She had been tired the whole time and taken a nap at the airport but since Thorne picked her up, there hadn't been a calm moment. First, she had been too excited to meet him, then had been kept awake by the slow realization that Thorne had never been the romantic wedding planner she had previously imagined. And then the car had broken down. It had been exhausting but Cress had tried to push through, hoping that she would soon get to sleep. Even staying the night at the motel sounded tempting at the moment.

"You poor thing. You want some brownies?" Jina bent over her seat, rummaging in a basket before she found a plastic container. "Still fresh and warm. Made them myself and you look like you could use one after everything you've been through. Might relax you."

When Jina opened the lid, the heavy scent of warm brownies filled the air. They looked amazing, each slice decorated with halved walnuts. Cress's stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten anything since the flight and she was hungry. She reached for one. "Thank you —"

"— thank you, indeed, but we're good," Thorne told Jina with a smile, while his hand reached for Cress's and held it with a firm grip on his thigh.

"But I'm not good. I want one. I'm hungry," Cress protested.

"Honey, you don't want those brownies," he told her, his smile still holding but he looked at her urgently. "Remember your allergies."

"My ... allergies?" She had no allergies she knew of, so why would he think that?

Thorne turned to Jina with a shrug. "There are probably walnuts in there, too?"

Jina gave him a weird look. "Yeah?"

Thorne snapped his finger. "Too bad. My girl is totally allergic to nuts of every kind. Makes her puff up like a blowfish."

"Excu—", Cress started but Thorne continued as if she hadn't said anything.

"Believe me, not a pretty sight." He puffed up his cheeks and, for good measure, crossed his eyes in a comical manner until the bus was roaring with laughter. "Should have known that before I thought I would impress her with my cooking for our third date."

He then continued the outrageous tale of their third date, including a trip to the emergency room that would have even made Cress laugh if he weren't talking about her. Instead, she was blushing from embarrassment. But no one was paying her attention, especially when the container with the brownies made its round, passing over Cress, though Thorne declined too, still engrossed in his tale.

"Don't get me wrong, I definitely had plans to get her into bed that night - just not in a hospital bed, if you know what I mean." Thorne waggled his eyebrows, pleased with the attention.

The mood in the bus was jolly and even though Cress was still blushing from embarrassment, she had to admit it helped ease the tension that had previously been in the bus. Or maybe it had just been because Cress thought there had been tension. But the good-natured laughter made her feel as if those people weren't indeed out to kill her and Thorne. Happy people didn't plan to kill strangers. She eased a bit more into Thorne's side, playing along with their pretend relationship status.

"Your girl is pretty."

It was Jamal who suddenly spoke and his offhand remark stunned the bus into silence. His eyes were still strangely fixated on Cress, but his speech had a slurry note to it.

Cress swallowed, pressing herself closer to Thorne, scared once more. Thorne gave her hip a comforting squeeze before replying to Jamal. "She is, isn't she?"

"So short, though."

That was positively rude but Cress didn't dare say anything. Who knew how Jamal would react? Everyone was looking at her expectantly once again but all she could offer was a small shrug when Thorne chimed in.

"Ah, you know, that's the best thing about her. The reason I was allowed to get to know her actually." Thorne waited until he had everyone's attention, including Jamal's. "You know those wife-carrying competitions where guys run around carrying a girl over the finish line to win free beer?"

Everyone nodded, though Cress had only had the faintest idea of what he was talking about. But Thorne drew the attention away from her once more and Cress was grateful for that.

"Well, I went to one of those - because who wouldn't want to try to win free beer, right? - and there was Cress. Small enough to easily carry her. All the guys were running towards her, but I was the fastest. Scooped her up and ran like the devil and won the race too. Perfect size, my girl." He paused. "I mean, I had my eyes on her before that, of course. And that was my chance to sweep her off her feet … literally."

How did he come up with those stories? He had no qualms about lying, that much Cress knew, but she had no idea how easy it was for him. He spun his stories so expertly, if Cress hadn't known for a fact that they never met like that, she wouldn't have been able to tell. No wonder she fell for his interviews.

Cress just hoped everyone else was falling for his fake charm too.

Shyly, she allowed herself to rest her head on Thorne's shoulder as exhaustion claimed her once more. If she seemed to be dozing, maybe she would be spared further conversations. She didn't want to talk and she didn't want to be reminded of the precarious situation they were in. Let Thorne handle it - he had shown that he could do it.

For now, she didn't care for pushing through, as Thorne had suggested. She just wanted to rest her tired eyes for a bit.

A/N: Obviously don't get into a stranger's car, just saying. ;) So, still no wedding planning yet ... which this fic should be about? I hope you're still with me though. Don't worry we will get to the wedding planning soon enough. Thanks for reading (and hopefully reviewing) and, as always, a special thanks to my beta lovelunarchron.