An Arc of Electric Skin
ShortStory 2,968 words Recommended by 5 award/anthology sources
"For a long time, I wondered what kind of person would volunteer to have their skin exposed to temperatures cycling between the melting point of aluminium and the night-time surface temperature of Mercury, riding a wave of thermal torment that would drive most people insane with pain. Now I know. I fell in love with such a man."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Asimov's, where the author gets the click.