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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8yaEaLs4d
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5If8PvroF
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFDZIallD6
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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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEU9SbJoeQ2
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80O9AFMHSx
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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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3rqY9Eqb9
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJXjtjCiXG
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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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOSrn5hEGx
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItLjU4e5IA
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATPftYrvQy
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNpUpqf13a
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFQ87jmDTQ
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBt41l1k2v
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvxzXMup5D
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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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHZHmNLRWS
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