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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NpjOtWBJ1
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw81auURAVz
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoIORMaDBO
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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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBla6IaOHxe
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDiC7fGvU1
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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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVmZunBHTE
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GKJy0boS3
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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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfOEIotllr
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UsLCZNPzw
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RDO63zNve
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0g5V1OB2d
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJiRaP9Pgp
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbOE9BqFQW
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwk3FmPB50
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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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAQgSk68VD
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