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Later that morning, Tessa could put off their talk no longer. She found Dean in the barn and asked him to come to the tack room with her.
He shut the door and came toward her, smiling. “What is it?”
“I need to talk to you,” she said.
“Like last night?” he asked as he put his arms around her.
“No. Yes. I mean, I wanted to talk to you last night, but it never happened because, well, you know,” she said.
“Oh, yes. I know, all right. Are we gonna talk more like that?” Dean asked.
“No. Not right now,” Tessa said.
“Okay. So what do you want to talk about?” he asked as he loosened his hold on her a little.
Tessa took a breath and then plunged ahead. “Last night was wonderful. Well, more than wonderful.”
“C’mon, Miss Writer, you can do better than that,” Dean coaxed.
“Spectacular. Incredible. Magnificent,” Tessa said, getting carried away.
Dean kissed the side of her neck and Tessa giggled.
“Keep goin’.”
“Fantastic. Passionate. Earth shattering,” Tessa continued.
“Earth shattering? Love it,” Dean said as he backed her over against the wall by the door.
“Dean, no, not here. Here?” she said as he locked the door.
“Yep.”
Tessa fumed as she walked back over to the house. She’d never done anything like that in her life and she’d loved every second of it. But her desire for her husband was keeping her from talking about the issues that still lie between them. She encountered Marcus on the way there.
“Hey, are you all right?” he asked when he saw the scowl on her face.
“I’m fine. You can thank me again,” she said and continued on her way.
Marcus looked after her and then at the barn. His laughter rang out as he caught her meaning.
That night, Tessa decided that they were going to have it out finally.
“Dean, we need to talk. No, don’t touch me!” she said when he moved toward her. “I’m completely serious and I am not going to let you distract me with sex.”
Dean laughed. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you use that word.”
“That’s not important right now! We need to talk about our disagreements. I’m still upset with you and you’re still upset with me,” Tessa said.
“I am?” Dean asked. “I’m still mad at you? I don’t think so.”
“You’re not?” Tessa asked.
“No. I thought we made up?” Dean said.
“No, we didn’t,” Tessa informed him.
Dean grinned. “It sure felt like we did. Several times, as a matter of fact.”
Tessa closed her eyes and groaned. “I know, but that wasn’t my intention.”
“What was your intention?”
“To get you to listen to me so we could work things out,” Tessa explained.
“I listened all right,” Dean said. “You talked, I listened.”
Tessa’s anger was piqued by his humorous remarks. “No, you didn’t. We made love. That’s not listening.”
Dean sighed and sat down on the bed and gave her his attention. He could tell that she wasn’t kidding around. “Okay. I’m listening now.”
“I need you to really hear me, Dean,” Tessa almost pleaded.
“Okay. Go ahead.”
“You don’t seem to understand why I’ve been angry about this whole letter business,” Tessa said.
Dean’s face fell. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, Tessa. I thought all was forgiven and forgotten.”
“No! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you but you keep distracting me. You don’t understand why what you did was wrong,” Tessa said.
“I’m gonna sleep on the floor again tonight, aren’t I?” he asked.
“You’re not listening to me,” Tessa said. “Please listen to me.”
“I’m listening and I’m not believing what I’m hearing. Do you want to fight? Do you want me to still be mad at you for not tellin’ your folks about me? Because I can get mad about it again, if you like. In fact, I’ll save us both sometime and just go sleep in the barn right now,” Dean said.
“No! Don’t go. Can’t you see that this is important to me? Why do you think I want to talk about it?” Tessa said frantically as Dean started dressing. “Take your pants off!”
Dean stilled. “Tessa, there’s only one reason I’m gonna take them off and I don’t think we have the same idea about that at the moment.”
Tessa had to work hard not to scream. Through clenched teeth, she said, “Why is it so hard for you to do one simple thing for me?” Tears of anger and disappointment gathered in her eyes. “I don’t ask you for much, Dean. Please.”
Dean saw that her eyes were overly bright and cursed under his breath. “Okay. Fine. I told you the other night that I know I was wrong and that I was sorry, but that wasn’t good enough for you, I guess. Do you want me to say it again, because I will if that’s what you need?”
“I’m telling you what I need, but you won’t hear me,” Tessa said.
“I’m confused, Tessa. I really don’t know what’s going on here,” Dean said.
“I was trying to get you in a good mood last night,” Tessa said.
Dean said, “Well, it worked.”
“Yes, but we didn’t talk about what I wanted to discuss. Can we please talk now?” Tessa said.
“All right.”
Tessa could see by his mutinous expression that he really wasn’t willing to talk. “Never mind, Dean. Go to the barn or wherever you want to go. I’m going to sleep.”
“What? I thought we were going to talk.”
“No. It’s not important. Goodnight, Dean,” Tessa said and got into the bed. She lay down facing away from him.
Stunned, Dean stared down at her for long moments. Rising from the bed, he put on his shirt and pants, and left their room.
“What the heck did you do?” Marcus asked as he came into the kitchen the next morning. “He’s worse than ever!”
Tessa sent Marcus a scathing look. “It is not my responsibility to keep him in a good mood. I need more than…that. He will not listen to me and he thinks I shouldn’t still be upset. Just because you make love it doesn’t mean that issues have been resolved.”
Marcus sighed and sat down at the table as she cooked. “Is this about the letters?”
Tessa said, “Yes, but it’s more than that. It’s about him not really listening to me. He thinks that I enjoy fighting or something like that. I’m getting myself
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