Here is a scene from my short story Redemption:
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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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkAXa6ue9B
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3oHughJWp
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQg5XIO3La
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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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRg8n1Vj5g
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwUa8JJk7w
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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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmar0CRI0yL
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmOmZLcpGV
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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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XMZsYaJBS
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleqE9uBjVo
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQ37pcgZ4c
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rKeT9HOnJ
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBpj35pjSb
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZI5Dk2f03J
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93ftBN2qZf
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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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dllVPm64R
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