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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmrhhjjM6k
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HHtHsbmgf
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7QCCqrWKS
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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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUy9Bk42Hpg
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1e44h61t92
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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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdrhquZVgJ
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiZAyZPiL9
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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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tS4xTB45M
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWgRo9UERH
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbb30ysjul
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDsMPJvqVo
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6qkIjb38N
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgegB2bH9k
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSM3SYI2pz
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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.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0wVLhGqZb
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