Damon chuckled, grateful she'd changed the subject. "Much of what I do is classified, but I've had my fill of cramped, dank and dark or parched and arid hiding holes. And MREs...don't get me started on those."
“Meals ready to eat?” Her brow wrinkled along with her nose this time. "I can imagine."
The flames on the candles had grown bigger, illuminating her face better. She really was an attractive woman. The warm vanilla scent of the candle made him want to lean closer to her to find out if she wore perfume.
"The Armyhasallowed me to check off quite a number of things on my bucket list." Damon was determined to stay upbeat and keep the lighter tone they had a few minutes ago.
She gave him a dubious look as she opened a package of licorice and offered him some. "Crawling through swamps, hiding in jungles, and sleeping under the stars in sweltering deserts were on your bucket list? You really are as crazy as I first thought."
Damon laughed. "Yet, you joined me on this lovely, bacteria-ridden floor."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Her grimace made her nose wrinkle again. "Like you said, it could be a while before we're rescued. I spend plenty of time on my feet throughout the day. No point in torturing myself while we're waiting." She pointed her licorice stick at him. "So, back to your bucket list...Have you checked off getting eaten alive by mosquitoes as big as your hand and searching your bunk for scorpions every night?"
Her expression was so serious, Damon burst out laughing again. "Mosquitoes, no. Scorpions, yes. I didn't actually start my bucket list untilafterI'd been in the Army for a few years. It became a way of convincing myself all the crazy things we had to do weren't so bad."
"So, you admit youarecrazy?" Grace's lips lifted in a knowing grin.
"Perhaps a little, considering the things I’ve added to my list that were pre-army." He held back a smile as he bit off a piece of licorice.
"What else have you checked off your bucket list, courtesy of the Army?"
"Besides scaling mountains and repelling off cliffs?" He opened the notes app on his phone. "I've driven a tank and jumped out of airplanes and helicopters. No parachutes with the helicopters."
"Seriously?"
"We repel down ropes."
"Like in the movies?"
"Something like that." Damon scrolled through his list that had grown lengthy over the years. "I flew in the cockpit of a fighter jet as it broke the sound barrier, and I've eaten a myriad of bugs. Would not recommend."
She shuddered and scrunched her nose again; an expression he was beginning to find endearing. "Are you an adrenaline junkie?"
"A little, but most of these things I would never have intentionally done if it wasn't part of the job." He chewed another bite of licorice. "I've done some 'safe' things too, like whale watching. I’ve visited a bunch of national parks and watched the sun rise over the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. I saw the northern lights while in Alaska."
"I don't know if I’d go searching for some of those opportunities, but they sound cool." She lifted her hair and fanned her neck. "It's getting hot in here."
It was, but it was nothing like the heat he'd experienced in the middle east, so he had no problem ignoring the rising temperature. However, he was concerned that if it continued to get hotter and the air stuffier, Grace would be convinced they were going to run out of oxygen and panic. He wasn't so sure they wouldn't, especially with the candle using up oxygen and putting off carbon dioxide, but he couldn't let on that he was worried.
"What do you have on your bucket list?" he asked.
"Oh, I don't have one." She waved a hand in dismissal.
"Why not?"
"Money was always tight while I was growing up, so we didn't go on many vacations." She shrugged one shoulder. "I'm kind of a homebody and not very adventurous since?—"
She stopped talking so abruptly, he gave her a sharp look. "Since what?"
"Nothing." Her lips pressed into a thin line as she looked away.
He decided it best not to press her. "You must have things you want to do someday."
"Well, yeah, but..." Her expression grew pensive rather than wistful, like he expected. An expression he couldn't read flitted across her face.
"But what?" He continued to study her in the dancing firelight, curious what held her back.
She shrugged again. "I don't know. I've just never felt the need to start a bucket list."
