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.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcpxfjn5lM
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzH9De8Li6d
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5tnfhVDIB
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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.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡes4xH0rXUq
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwpRfdDGp9
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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.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpoin1jJBm3
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZhPOWs2yR
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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.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKO2x6nOrM
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTIlsBdgCd
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHoTO5dpFF
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxmlQhPZJi
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXtGfz2yfE
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW39hiplgsl
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglap2rYk9w
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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.138Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvuqhyMq47
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