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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8e5zUluLy1
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“I’m fine, thanks,” she responded with a smile.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrynWCoqq1
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“Do I know you,” he asked, genuinely curious.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9U5dS8OR5
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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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsBEAZEANc
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“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside her.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMd8pC40Ift
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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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYjKOOQjKA
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“So, you’ve read about me, have you? The Time Magazine piece? Forbes?”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWoC6GhMcp
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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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EwTPb6pL6
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“What other kind is there?” He asked, puzzled.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEPiPfdiujG
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“Oh, lots of other kinds,” she sighed in response.” Auras. Eyes. Body language. Souls.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwy4Cusb16K
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“So, you read souls, do you?” He said, amused.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWI5lULowu9
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“I read a great many things, souls among them, yes.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXflVbLGjz
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“So, oh most alluringly mysterious one, what do you read in mine?”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWPJ3AQopP
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“Darkness. Light. Ambivalence. Complexity. You are an enigma.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2D4KvJSBhy
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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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20jNu7xf7j
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