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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XZPkHFJfu
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XT1fznHdz
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCh66FIam6
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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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTU37afUCBD
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmq5gpGCmXl
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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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFE79EF1LKR
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDQjA7o4JQ
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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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3SxICnBf3
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRdSCRjbEX
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIRC2fVvwN
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYuRCJYzxr
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLcNXJ5LrK
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKEmRKszhl
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPAN9EMbDeW
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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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIbIFiZvZd
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