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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdefuwPrsEI
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAf8gmBHqc
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFIJWbVLgW
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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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCMEgB6dwn
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2oumUT5HZ
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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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z4e2xxgkD
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnw3rlKPvn
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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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJ2Himhqvk
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8aVO29iDH
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNeE2XEZc4
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXPd40cyyF
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6D4Wu9eZ2
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsubAhkZipr
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9R1LTbftG
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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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RgnfzXLI7
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