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.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqwxKCQJmI
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzYpOtKafG
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3CjZPNTlT
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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.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NDPZKDWBv
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12uumOF7ME
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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.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6thn73FkaI
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnNmrIcJdK
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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.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWXhoH9a5L
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM04itbHzx2
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5ooUUk5lx
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdv0Oxs44V
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNakREXTO6
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxLWzVtSOd
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbETcunRHZe
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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.109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAewhzAYjCO
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