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.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHvgB2TkdR
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVK3sziByc
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5jeSnNid2
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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.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgy3dUs2CGj
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofvBFb6ruk
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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.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx04bTztsqF
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiEnResIOp
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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.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNybLoOWYA
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxyesPHHRp
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugMCee2W2o
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfNRFaxioG
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ78Q7foz1j
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPx4WEtrZId
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiU8RdS4ECJ
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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.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANKktHHMpT
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