Deer in Headlights (Hearts and Arrows 1) (Good god series) by Staci Hart

forgive me.”
    Perry shook her head. “Yeah. He’s not ready for that, and there’s no reasoning with him.”
    “I hate talking about it with him. There are so few things that we disagree on, but when we don’t see eye to eye, there’s no reasoning with either of us. At least I only have to deal with it once every handful of decades.”
    “Are you going to try to convince Adonis again to let it go?”
    “You know, it’s funny because I know what he’s going to say, and I know that we’re going to argue. But yes, I’m going to try to convince him. I have to, don’t I?”
    “You’re Aphrodite, my headstrong, confident, and capable friend. If you didn’t argue, I would be worried.” Perry sat up and gave Bisoux another pat before she stood. “Good luck. And congrats again on Lex and Dean.”
    “Thanks, Perry. For everything.”
    “Any time.”

    Dean sat back on his couch and flipped through the pages he’d just written with his forearms on his guitar. He touched the words, crammed on the pages in every free space, and her face took over his mind again, her eyes as clear as if she was standing before him, as it had been all night since he’d parted ways with her.
    The feeling was new. He’d had muses in his life before, that part wasn’t new, but Lex was different. She was like a siren, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her, singing to her in practice. He watched her watch him, and the rush was more than he knew what to do with. He knew the effect he had on women and exploited it whenever possible, but he wanted more than that. He actually wanted her, and in a way so intense that it scared him.
    When he walked into practice, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her sitting on the couch, her rich, dark hair like a curtain in front of her face as she bent over her bag. Curious, he walked over to get a better look, but didn’t expect to be momentarily stunned when she looked up at him. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of blue, her skin like porcelain, and when her cheeks flushed and her lips parted, he felt his do the same.
    He knew the look. He’d gotten it hundreds of times before, though he didn’t know if he’d ever given it. He froze in place like he’d been struck by lightning.
    But instead of falling over herself and trying to lick his boots, or anything else, she’d talked shit. She’d knocked him out. If she had been anyone other than Travis’ girlfriend, he would have asked her out right then.
    The smile on his face dropped. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t go there. There was no choice to be made.
    He was sure that whatever it was he felt would pass. A few days and it would be over, if she stayed out of his way and he stayed out of hers. It was all he could do, and the very least he could do.
    Dean picked his phone up off the coffee table to find a text from Roe on his lock screen.
    Don’t even think about it.
    He shook his head. Roe had seen the exchange and knew, so Big Brother would be watching. Just one more reason to stay away from her.
    Her eyes were on his mind again, and more lines ran through his thoughts. He jotted them down in his book, wishing he could draw, wanting to trace every line that made up her hair, her lips, her long lashes. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but it was more than that, something he didn’t understand, some magic about her that had taken him over, and he hoped his obsession with her would be over soon, because he didn’t know how much he could take.

    Apollo looked in on Dean from his couch, more than a little worried after watching him react to Lex earlier that day. Dita always picked ringers, but after seeing the players react to each other, the reality of the fact was upon him. Winning wasn’t going to be easy.
    The worst was that in his heart, he was rooting for them. Lex was another favorite of Apollo, and he’d been a major force in her life. Dita knew him well, choosing a match for Dean that Apollo connected with.