“Will I ever see you again?” Tyler murmured, hooking an index finger under her chin, tilting her head and forcing her to look him. His dark eyes were murky, disturbed.

“Probably not.”

“Then this is good-bye.”

“Yes.”

The word brought a grimace to his handsome face. She had the strongest urge to reach up and wipe the pain away with her hand.

“This may sound illogical but in a very short time I’ve come to care about you a great deal, Hannah.”

“You’re right,” she said. “It is illogical.”

“I know. I’ve told myself that a hundred times but I can’t help the way I feel.”

“And how do you feel?” she asked, curious and yet dreading to hear his answer. All her life she had suppressed the quiet internal stirrings that whispered to her that she was not like her parents. She wasn’t meant to stay cloistered in some lab, forever peering down a microscope. She had wanted nothing more than to live a normal life, have friends, go to parties and yet, she had never acted upon these deeply buried desires.

She had not intended on dedicating her entire life to her work, eschewing intimate ties. But that’s exactly what she had done. And now that she had found a man who made her think there could be such a thing as true love, she was going to have to walk away from him. The sadness of her situation bit hard.

“I feel like kissing you,” he whispered.

“Oh.” The sudden heat pushing from inside her contrasted with the cool ocean air blowing against her skin.

“Would you mind if I kissed you, Hannah?”

His dark eyes burned with a feverish intensity. An intensity that raised the hair on her arms and dried her throat. Her pulse hopped. Mind? Would she mind a drink from heavens cup? Would she mind an eternity in paradise? Would she mind flying to the stars?

"I don’t know if a kiss would be prudent,” she said rather primly while her thoughts raced in the opposite direction. She ached for him to scoop her into his arms and kiss her so hard she forgot about Lionel Daycon, Marcus, Omni ViralBactrum, her spontaneous healing, everything but the taste of Tyler’s lips and the feel of him pressed against her.

“Do you want to be prudent? When we might never see each other again?” The wind snatched at his clothing, billowing the tail of his white lab coat around him.

“What would be the point?” she asked, knowing she spoke like a true scientist, detached and analyzing everything to death, but that’s not what she felt. Yet for so many years she had been trained to ignore her emotions and focus only on facts.

“Pleasure. A deadening of the pain, a filling of the emptiness you carry here.” He lightly tapped her chest. “My gift to you. A parting kiss. Something to remember me by.”

“I couldn’t forget you if I wanted to.”

“Nor I you.” He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand and lowered his head. The sun had gone completely and only the silvery moonlight illuminated them.

His lips were warm. Much warmer than she had expected. And buttery soft. Rocked by incredible sensations, Hannah closed her eyes and tilted her head farther back.

He tasted unique and when his tongue skimmed over her lips she became a part of his taste, blending with him until they were a flavor unto themselves. He held her tightly, one palm pressed against the back of her head, the other resting at her waist. This was pleasure of the most remarkable kind.

Unbidden, her arms reached up and wrapped around Tyler’s neck, drawing him closer. She hadn’t meant to do it but she could not seem to halt her mad rush toward intimacy with this man.

In the past, she had always found kissing rather distasteful, but then again she had never kissed Tyler. Instead, Hannah wanted more. She wriggled impatiently, going up on her tip-toes and opening her mouth wider, egging him on.

He groaned softly and increased the tempo. He seemed as hungry as she.

Kissing him was foolish, rash, an action that simply begged for trouble and yet, once started, she could not stop.

She sank against him, melting, wielding, gluing her mouth to his. Mine, she thought greedily. Mine.

“Sweet,” he whispered. “You taste so damned sweet.”

He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her chin and jaw. He ran his mouth up and down her neck, over her forehead, nibbled her earlobes.

Finally, Hannah drew in a wobbly breath. She was burning up inside, her body a virtual pressure cooker of desire.

Never, ever had she suspected that sexual passion could feel like a thunderous waterfall tumbling headlong into rapture. Hannah had to pull away. She had to put a stop to this while she still could.

“Tyler,” she said panted, “I have to go.”

He stopped kissing her and just held her tightly. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

They could have been Cathy and Heathcliff on the windswept moors or Rick and Ilsa at the airport hanger, so tragically bittersweet was their parting. But they were not. She was Hannah Zachary, a dying research scientist, and he was Tyler Fresno, a dedicated doctor who was helpless to heal her. The scenario didn’t bode well for a happy ending.

She looked at him. Were those tears shimmering in his eyes? Hannah’s heart wrenched and she felt her own tears swell close to the surface.

“I’ll never forget you,” she said softly.