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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgIsYDkz5J
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7i5ezNZ3O
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPFkW1a6j7
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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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pal6kZ9P2
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0PGesNLwd
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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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcXGEPV0jj
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5ozhil4qC
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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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnl3Pvh3V9
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPlYgVkpfVI
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFgCBcEqi6
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNBObspqGH
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqJcPK2HCP
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlAUa9guroU
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEbNJVqYcl
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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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerCvJUZnOY
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