Page 109 of Brazen Mistakes

“Out? The whole world is covered in snow.”

“The gym, silly.”

If I needed any more evidence that my lack of sleep is disrupting my normal brain function, well, there it is. “The gym. Of course.” I twist to look at him. “I’ve never been climbing. Is it hard?”

Walker shrugs. “It’s the kind of thing where you can always push yourself to be better.”

“So, my kryptonite?”

“If you end up liking it, yeah. It might be.”

“Just you and me?”

“Jay wanted to come, but he has to go pick up the keg and liquor as they’re under his name. RJ tried climbing a few times and didn’t like it much. And Trips got pissed when he tried to haul his heavy ass up the wall while Jansen climbed literal circles around him, so he’s not a big fan of it either.”

I laugh, perfectly able to imagine that situation. “Got it. Do I need to change?”

He looks me up and down. “As much as I want to see you wrapped in Lycra, you’re probably fine.”

“Then let’s go.”

The climbing gym is huge, and the price to get in makes my breath catch. Walker covers the cost despite my protests, then pulls me to a corner far from everyone.

“How are you with heights?” he asks.

I picture myself perched on the railing last night with Jansen. “Not as comfortable as Jansen, but otherwise, pretty good.”

“No one is as comfortable with heights as Jansen.”

We share a laugh as we pull on our tiny rubbery shoes.

“I can’t belay you yet. I thought we’d start with bouldering. Since you’re good with heights, we could grab an auto-belay if you really wanted to.”

“Words I understood—good with heights.”

He chuckles. “Got it. Want to go up high, or stay close to the ground while learning the basics?”

“Close to the ground sounds safer.”

He talks me through safety first. This is followed by how to read the colored lumps up the wall, then a lesson on how to position my body close to the wall so I don’t strain my arms as much.

After a pathetically few number of attempts, my arms are shaking and my hands ache, so I sprawl across the mat with a groan. Without a word, Walker massages my forearm, and I make a sound that probably shouldn’t be shared in public.

Walker’s little smile tells me he recognizes that sound, too.

Whoops.

I try to focus on something less appealing than Walker’s hands on my skin. “Weird question. I know you guys are big on keeping secrets, but do you have secret codes or anything that I might need to know about?”

He moves on to my other arm, crawling over me to get to it, hovering above me for just long enough for my heart topound in my ears, but not long enough to gain any attention from the other climbers in the gym.

“Flirt,” I mumble.

As a reward for that grumble, I get a nip on the delicate skin under my ear, goosebumps shooting across my skin as he returns to massaging my arm.

There’s no hiding that.

He swallows, and I know his teasing is affecting him the same as it is me. Serves him right.

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