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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpLz74hX8M
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrFy6vcJN3
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMq0SBXQUOU
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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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSpgGwS9ihb
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZkqbYPOav
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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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9pap1kQXe
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWwJpr0uAk
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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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwDttKElVO
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZnkmiPl8d
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaRnPdNHjG
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk458UWbs4G
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7b6E0AfeiO
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfepEWmczck
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rtUMHAnDI
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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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TfGK4Pz2W
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