The Wall. That was where her focus needed to be. Taryn let her gaze travel up the intimidating curve of the obstacle, and sweat broke out on her lip. She squatted down to make sure the knots on her shoelaces were tight and then stood and checked the waistband on the new workout leggings to make sure they weren’t going to give up on her when she tried to get up this damn wall.
Shaw lifted a brow, a little of the humor back. “You’re stalling.”
Taryn narrowed her eyes. “That is my right.”
He nodded, conceding the point. “If you’re too scared…”
Scared. She flexed her jaw and eyeballed the ramp again. Well, that did it. She was a lot of things, but she wasn’t a coward. It was a wall. So what if she fell? What was the worst that could happen? A hurt ego? A sore butt? Her pants ripping? Her bones breaking into a million—nope, not going to think about that. She squared her body toward the wall.
She took a deep breath, braced a foot behind her as though she was waiting for the starter pistol of a race, and then took off with as much power as she could. She made it two strides up the wall, her arms outstretched for the rope that was far out of reach, and then gravity took over and dragged her backward. She tried to catch herself, but the reverse momentum was too much. She fell onto her kneepads and slid down the wall on her hands and knees, eventually landing on the padded mat below with an indelicate grunt.
She slapped the mat. “Damn.”
“Seven feet,” Shaw said as he stepped up next to the wall and made a note on his clipboard. “Great. Now we know your starting point.”
“Is it good or bad?” she asked, sitting up on her knees.
He glanced over at her. “It’s neither. It’s your personal day one. Next time you try, you’ll be able to gauge whether you improved or not.”
She hated that answer. Her competitive side wanted to know if she was worse, average, or better than other people on day one. She got to her feet and stared the obstacle down, irritated with it for existing. “I want to try again.”
Lucas’s lips twitched at the corners, but he didn’t look up from his clipboard. He shrugged. “Go for it.”
Taryn backed up and took a breath. She tried to channel the frustration she was feeling into energy to help her get farther up the wall. One, two, three… She took off in a sprint, her arms pumping. Two steps up the wall and gravity laughed at her again, yanking her backward with even less grace than the first time. She slid down, losing her balance and planting onto her ass. She hit the mat with a gasp. “Ugh! This wall sucks.”
Lucas snorted. “Patience not a virtue of yours, songbird?”
“I have a doctorate,” she said grumpily. “I spent almost a decade in college and graduate school. I’m familiar with patience.”
“I can tell.”
“Hush.” She stood and dusted herself off like she’d fallen into mud instead of onto a mat. “Can you make it up the wall?”
“Yep,” he said without hesitation. “But I couldn’t
on the first day.”
She straightened her crooked top, trying to find some of her dignity. “Show me.”
He looked her way, unmoved. “This is your training session, not a competition. What does it matter to you if I can make it up the wall?”
She crossed her arms. “Because I’m not convinced anyone can do it. Maybe this is a marketing ploy to keep people coming back and trying.”
He huffed a laugh. “A marketing ploy?”
“Yes.” She nodded resolutely.
Lucas gave her a patient look, tossed aside the clipboard, and strode past her. Before she could even track his technique, he took off in a run and scaled the monster wall in a few strides. Instead of grabbing the rope, he gripped the top edge of the wall and hung from it. The muscles in his arms flexed in full relief, and his track pants hung low on his hips, exposing a tan strip of lower back. Taryn had to stop herself from gawking because hell, it wasn’t fair for anyone to look that good doing something as ridiculous as hanging from a wall.
Then, instead of dropping back down, Lucas pulled himself all the way up to the platform at the top, turned around, and sat on the edge of the wall. He looked down at her, hands gripping the edge and feet dangling. “Satisfied, professor?”
Taryn harrumphed. “Show-off.”
He stood and climbed down the ladder on the side of the wall and then hopped down, skipping the last few rungs. “You asked me to show off.”
“Well, you didn’t have to do such a good job of it,” she said petulantly.
He laughed and handed her the bottle of water she’d set down earlier. “I have high hopes for you. This is a good sign.”