Here is a scene from my short story Redemption:
*. *. *
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.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4IRQX36HvG
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmfoeGrj1m
“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡroTkUXNPgC
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAV78jp0RVF
“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPxM6tOVXC
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF9umFvOqn
“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.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡco6dkfJCqo
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgtx5lFK0t
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgVkBWBsdI
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQstQrPWIBS
“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.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwWRmgW2Jx
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YEgSAH0qA
“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7u5pqXxqF
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwk0GhfUF1f
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.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSo4Gmdpu8p
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhn3vyaTt7o
“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Al5obzpFi
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCKAO9SQTZ
“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptLej03txP
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr01uyNWqgA
“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJY4S0rbi5
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqd61oCYa70
“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjm8Hic7Z0d
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEkvtfaqNc
“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33cIfiW3WO
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ232deCggKM
“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSobfKy8MWV
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJok7JqA5q2
“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.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvyXXWHycj
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2V9K752ZU
170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSXWKc892e
