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.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjZtaQCM82
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAziyWvcOl
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LtdozDkHT
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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.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrXCSjCAst
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRKrPwhVgp
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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.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkttxCwXlE
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNpJog7chX
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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.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitdRO7gyUx
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2553IG6uMw
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9W1kIPxHfW
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9MMCg29xq
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lFu01h9rP
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneSY9TZiYY
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFS9dDzo566
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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.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTVQQHJZnP
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