They entered their room and Sam closed the door behind him while Penny hung her jacket on the coat rack.

"You could have stayed with the others, Sam. As if something could have happened to me in the few meters into the room?!"

"At the beginning of the week you just wanted to go to the toilet in the entrance hall and almost died," Sam now stated and pulled her into his arms to look her in the eyes. There was so much worry in it that it warmed her heart.

"Thanks to this Madeleine. But she has left and Pedro will hardly dare to come near us after what happened today," she replied with a smile and kissed him until the phone suddenly rang. Sam went and answered the call as he watched Penny lie down on the bed.

"Mr. Jones?" asked a deep male voice that sounded familiar, but he couldn't immediately place it.

"In person."

"I'm Doctor Schneider. The doctor who examined you yesterday."

"You have long office hours if you call after eight," Sam now objected and sat down next to Penny so that she could listen in if she was interested.

"I do what I can. I didn't catch you earlier and the doorman doesn't have your or Ms. Morris's cell phone numbers. I'm calling because I got the results of your blood sample today. It was actually poison. From your symptoms, it seemed like dose was very high. You were really lucky."

"What do you mean, I was lucky?" he asked now and felt Penny's gaze on his back before she sat up to better understand the doctor on the phone.

"You are very fit and healthy and your body instinctively rebelled against the poison. Normally the urge to vomit in such a poisoning has to be triggered with help. You did it on your own and that saved your live. If there would have been all of the poison in your blood circulation, you would 100 percent not have survived."

"Wow."

"I passed on my findings to the police. The night porter told me yesterday that there had been a few strange incidents this week. Under the circumstances, the police will certainly be interested in this and they will certainly come back to you."

"Okay, thank you Mr. Schneider." The person opposite laughed briefly. "Did I say something wrong?"

"We don't say Mr. but Herr. I'm not used to that. Excuse me. I wish you a nice evening and say hello to your girlfriend."

Sam said goodbye and hung up, staring at a spot on the floor, still stunned by what he had just heard.

"I should order you a nice greeting from the doctor."

"Thanks. But right now I'm happier that you're alive."

"Me too," he replied tonelessly, standing up to put the phone back on its base before going to the window and running both hands through his hair. It was unbelievable what a person was willing to do out of envy. Sam thought back to the numerous missions that had been more dangerous than others, sometimes too dangerous. But as a rule he was always in control of the situation.

They had come here to complete three competitions and in some places had been exposed to greater danger than at home in their worst missions to date. Pedro had taken the risk of injuring him when he cut his rope during the competition and attacked him today. He and his girlfriends had put Penny's life in danger and poisoned him - all because they couldn't stand competition and even less wanted to lose?! What kind of world was that? He would never let Steele or anyone else persuade him to do something like that again. He was done competing. Done with envy and competitive thinking. His dislike of these competitions had only grown more than improved thanks to both of their victories.

He was happy for Penny. She had put in a brilliant performance - both in the first and in the team competition and she absolutely deserved to win and she deserved the awards without question. She had been perfect, as she always was. Nevertheless, this would be the last time for her too, he would make sure of that and, if necessary, talk her out of it if she wanted to do it again.

Penny leaned on her forearms and watched Sam as he looked thoughtfully out of the window and how much these assassination attempts by Pedro were bothering him. He was so good-natured and, above all, gullible. He was often like a little child who had never experienced anything bad and always saw only the good in everyone. How many times had Norman stunned him when he had done something out of pure envy that had put others in danger. Now it seemed to Sam that his world had been turned upside down and she was wondering if she should go and comfort him, but when Sam needed a moment to sort out his thoughts, she had always recognized that and he was in exactly that situation right now. It was certainly better to give him his time. If he wanted to talk he would come to her and if he needed comfort too.

She had seen how badly he had felt last night and had expected that Pedro had foisted something on him, which the doctor had confirmed to her that night. She had thought he had simply wanted to weaken Sam so that he would lose in today's competition or not compete at all. But she would never have even dared to think that he would resort to a deadly poison. She could have lost him as soon as they found each other. Could the world really be that bad? She suddenly realized why she felt so resentful towards Pedro. He had wanted to take Sam away from her and she knew she would never forgive him for that.

She noticed that her arms were asleep and her shoulders were tense and she wanted to lie down, but it was worse than she thought and she couldn't help but let out a small moan as she sank back onto her pillow. Sam immediately turned to her and looked at her questioningly.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly and she had to smile. Sam had just gotten the shock of his life and yet he put her above his own worries. That was so typical.

"My shoulders are just a little tight from climbing." He walked over to her and sat behind her, after gently helping to sit her up again and began massaging her shoulders. Immediately he felt her instantly relax under his touch.

"That's so wonderful, Sam. How do you do it so well?"

"I don't know. I guess it's just talent or I have a knack for you," he replied with a smile and continued to make her melt under his hands with gentle and even touches. What he was doing felt simply fabulous, indescribable and wonderful. Her tension disappeared after just a few minutes, but she was enjoying it so much that she couldn't stop him. "Lie down!" he then asked her and she looked into his eyes for a moment, saw his loving smile and did it without asking. She trusted him implicitly and whatever he had in mind, there was nothing she wasn't ready for.

She lay on her stomach, rested her head on her folded arms and Sam also started massaging her back. He ran the heels of his hands lightly up and down her back on the left and right, and the same with his thumbs right next to her spine. It was so heavenly and Sam also enjoyed getting to know her and her body in this way, finding out what she liked and what was good for her.

The material of her shirt shifted with his every movement and he hesitated for a long time, but finally it annoyed him so much that he lifted it and ran his hands underneath it. He immediately realized that it was a mistake. As soon as he touched her skin, he felt his heart start to race and it electrified him, the tension from his hands ran through his whole body, but he couldn't stop. He enjoyed being so close to her too much and she liked it, it was good for her - then how could he stop?

Penny had been able to completely let herself go under his touch, loving the way he touched her and cared for her. It felt so good to feel him, to feel that he was still with her, that he was alive. Images suddenly flashed into her head and with them the fear that she had endured in the moments surrounding Sam came back. Pictures of Pedro's first attack on Sam's rope at the competition, the smoke grenade, today's incident and from last night, when she had to watch him in pain and being unfairly bombarded with accusations by Sam herself, and as she now knew, he have had been close to die.

Something jolted her out of her thoughts and only a second later she realized what it was. Sam's hands had slipped under her shirt and he continued the massage without any fabric separating his hands from her skin and she thought she would instantly burst into flames. It was wonderful, almost impossible to describe in words as her heart raced and she felt as if her skin was burning wherever he touched her.

He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed that his touch had upset her just as much as it had upset him, and he looked at her in surprise when she turned around and sat up. What he hadn't expected was for her to wrap her hands around his neck and kiss him in a way that took his breath away. He let himself fall completely as he pulled her closer to him, and Penny pulled him with her as she fell back again. Sam put his legs up and intertwined them with hers - always looking for more closeness. Neither of them could tell how much time had passed when their lips parted, breathing heavily, and they laid forehead to forehead, eyes closed, trying to recover from the emotional tremor that was raging within them.

"I could have lost you," she then sighed quietly, her voice trembling as she opened her eyes to sink into the deep blue of his eyes, which looked at her with so much love and understanding.

"But you didn't. I'm with you and always will be. Promise," he replied and kissed her gently again. "I love..." She stopped him from continuing to talk with a kiss that would have torn his feet away if he hadn't already been lying there anyway and then saw something in her eyes that he had never seen before - but it left him anything but cold.

"Don't say it, Sam," she whispered now, completely captivated by the emotions raging inside her and he looked at her intently. "Show me," she said so quietly that he almost didn't understand it - but then just almost not and he kissed her with all his passion - knowing that the night was far from over.

To be continued...