Here is a scene from my short story Redemption:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjfeGAeqe8
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A short time later, while mingling and chatting with the gathered guests, Howard noticed a woman sitting off in a corner of the large living room watching him intently with a half-smile. She was in her late twenties or early thirties, dressed in a simple black dress and black shawl, her long, lustrous vantablack hair flowing in generous undulating curls all about her. He gravitated towards her and asked her “Can I get you a drink?” taking a sip from his champagne flute.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi83yBNk9yn
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FMQqTY5Fy
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKzxSVrjHi
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“No, but I know you,” she replied, in a vaguely feral voice dipped in honey, her large, black eyes looking at him intently, reading him.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8w94gXgJI
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZF4Xs5Ns5J
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“I only believe what I see, and read,” she responded, her voice wrapping itself around him, drawing him to her like a moth to a flame.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUwYR15Enc
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyaHAhuysu
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She laughed, in response, a slightly disquieting sound, like pan pipes blown off-key. “Not that kind of reading,” she said, crossing her legs and broadening her smile.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoQ4Hxjmqa
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOzhdGONyQ
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzgEfixI0O
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAadOE1jGb
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Bw304VfY4
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQU2YBV9fb
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6XEzbUYSa
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“Well thank you. I do try,” he said grinning. He had no idea what game she was playing but was enthralled by her approach and drawn to her for reasons he would not have been able to articulate. She was lovely, true, but not as lovely as some of the other women he had been speaking to when he noticed her. There was just something about her. Maybe Chuck would need to take an Uber home after all if this played out right.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnCbCBD9WD
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