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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkI40VZax2
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnNxCSRVqs
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhsvG0hgzce
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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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYqPM2zrXT
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRqApFv8uA
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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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmFQ2FLIpN
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7w8C9m7zP
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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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDut74EI1La
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUV7f4JUmrs
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0sNljjC9t
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR73vRK0BDI
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMM4jybcPv
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXF2mpefd5
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cx96X2d3a
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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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmNqgUb1EP
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