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.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMyHE1oi5Q
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWwoxNyQNB
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRxKfED08q
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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.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH905lOi7Vc
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yhiAvqvpt
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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.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXI7DcufUvK
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vSyXMYGJ2
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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.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvj27Ow31Ec
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7LdpKrD1Z
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYoqLytPLeo
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pQ1TFK2aA
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIdBBS37HeE
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPx5XDZcqwE
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDSgUuUsN3
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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.110Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWBjvQmG4Q
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