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.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvEnTvDWUr
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogCf0uJyJy
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8isurj4vmW
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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.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6DWVelNdB
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSEXZ9yuSL
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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.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8RJ7fxQeE
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62qiKT7GzY
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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.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56FCYfo8DD
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kh6hqVAUF
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmBXJ1Z0zC
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fkyd8xZgl
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKPdaZaHjx
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYFpPG9GXM
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11yvjYVYkk
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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.206Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eOmUEQYus
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