Sarah's Prayer: A Sunset Single (Sunset Series 1.1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

district. Leaving the church she felt upset with Ellen for "strong arming" her into being Michael's hostess of sorts at lunch. Sarah hated being put upon like that. As she drove through the tree lined streets, however, the idea of spending lunch with a rather nice looking guy who was every bit as shy as she began to grow on her. It's just the singles group, not a date and it's only for an hour or so. What could it hurt? Yeah... what could it hurt?
    Sarah drove into a parking space at Antonio's and reflexively pulled down the visor to look in the mirror. She always checked her "flaws" before going out in public. Her brunette hair, dark brown eyes and distinct facial features accented by a flair for cosmetic artistry caused a lot of heads to turn when Sarah walked into a room. She rarely noticed, and even if she did she felt self-conscious about it.
    She walked away from her car just in time to see Michael walk up to the door but stop short of going inside. She thought nothing of it until she got to the door herself.
    "Hi, Michael. Are we the first ones here?"
    "I don't know. I was waiting for you." Michael opened the door and motioned for Sarah to go in.
    Sarah hesitated for a second to absorb what the gesture meant. "Why, thank you. You are a gentleman." There are so few of those these days. Once inside she scanned the room looking for familiar faces. Seeing Ellen's enthusiastic wave, Sarah turned to see if Michael was with her and startled. Michael stood quietly, right behind her with his hands in his pockets.
    "I'm sorry if I frightened you, Sarah."
    "Oh, no... It's not you. It's me. I don't know why I'm so jumpy." Michael's calm demeanor was so low key that Sarah didn't even sense he was so close. "Well, there's our group."
    Ellen strategically saved two seats together for Sarah and Michael. Michael met everyone at the church, so no introductions were necessary. Sarah's suspicions were correct. Ellen planned to get the two of them together, at least for lunch. Oh, well. It's not so bad. He's kinda cute, especially when he blushes.
    The group seemed to know they shouldn't bombard Michael with a lot of questions. They were typically the FBI- Fellowship Bureau of Investigation, particularly when the guest was a good looking single male. The only covert activity during lunch involved the women and their eye contact and facial expression code system that most women have down cold.
    "Sarah, he's cute."
    "Stop it, Lydia."
    "Don't let him get away, girl."
    "Zip it , Cynthia!"
    "He has dreamy eyes..."
    "Back off, Karla."
    ... and so it went, interspersed with actual verbal dialogue to make it look like they were including the men in the conversation.
    Either Michael didn't notice the silent communication or he wasn't affected by it in the least. Actually, Michael Bykowsky didn't miss much of anything that happened around him, he just chose to process more input than output. It was a necessary survival skill where he had been. The last time he really needed that skill it almost didn't save him. That's why he ended up alone in Sunset, Texas.
    Wrapping up their lunch gathering, Sarah found herself in the strange position of not wanting to part company with Michael even though she couldn't recall very much that they said to each other in the last hour and a half. She just enjoyed being in his presence. It seemed... comforting, somehow peaceful.
    As they stood up to leave, Lydia "accidently" bumped into Sarah sending her toppling into Michael. Michael held out his arm to steady her with seemingly no effort.
    Sarah had her own bout of blushing as she felt a wave of warmth course through her body. Michael was incredibly strong for such an average build. "I'm sorry, Michael." She turned to Lydia and signaled, "You did that on purpose."
    Lydia winked, " You betcha, sister. "
    "No problem." Michael noticed that Sarah still held his arm.
    Sarah suddenly felt self-conscious about her continued grasp and let go. Still not wanting this to end,