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.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVstgp5jlAU
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbxz1U1Dv0
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Zs9dQrA1v
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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.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfg6bco9vHc
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOR4qb8lkn
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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.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmnkgSWwLX
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMx3KHeosl
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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.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpwXHAkr50
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGSXuArV1y
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCGzJ98khb
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJo6DXFHFM
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrtb5WHgAA
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxQQsEpgSa
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPiGjLUTIX
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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.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrgHeVYLIV
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