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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5CznJjwZ2
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuV9XtBtba
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieywRwG0cU
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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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIFbmBaD4T
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeezRMWaZl
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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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVLRQu8ncx
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzrWS1kGqT
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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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPa8JwIqXP
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Nnj3A6APM
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloDYVRy0j7
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5mayqMAlZ
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAHtxNOdjb
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCbIElFFJF
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaE867cqfYc
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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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mzZKW4LqU
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