Page 40 of My Christmas Alien Mate

As hoped for, she giggled at my words. I always loved it when I could elicit this sweet sound from her.

Workingonthewebsitefilled me with so much joy and pride it was hard to describe. I worked through old shoeboxes filled with aged photographs of Grampa and Grandma. I copied old and crinkled recipes, making sure not to show the entire script, but it looked awesome in the background, as well as the pictures of my grandparents.

I worked so long and focused that I didn't even realize when it turned dark outside and only looked up when a pair of familiar headlights entered the driveway followed by Ol' Nelly's stuttering motor.

With a smile, I put the laptop aside and moved to the door. Chiding myself for being remiss, I turned the Christmas lights on to help Galexor find his way.

He blinked the headlights twice, telling me he had seen me before he turned the motor off.

A jolt rushed though me when I watched his massive form emerge from the old truck, and I realized how much I had missed my blue alien, even though I had been deeply submerged in my work all day.

I ran to him and gave him a tight hug. "I missed you."

"Liar, you had your nose in your laptop all day," he grinned.

Warmth spread through me at the realization of how well he already knew me.

"I still missed you," I pouted.

"I missed you more," he said, planting a kiss on my lips. "Now shoo. Go inside before you get sick again."

"I only got sick because you pushed me into the lake."

He laughed. "I didn't push you into the lake."

"If it hadn't been for your spaceship, I wouldn't have stood so close to the edge and lost my footing."

"I love the way you can make the most illogical thing sound logical," he joked.

But then we both stilled and stared at each other.

"I love you," he said, his words coming out in small puffs of mist, because the temperatures had fallen even more, but I didn't feel the cold. At all. Because his words heated me from the inside out.

We hadn't said them before. We had only known each other for a few days, still, I had never felt anything being truer in my life than when I responded, "I love you too."

He picked me up and twirled me around while I laughed happily. "You just made me the happiest male in the universe."

We stopped for a deep kiss, which he broke when he remembered the groceries that needed to be brought inside. I quickly helped him, and once it was done, we sat on the couch, sipping hot chocolate, and I showed him what I had been working on all day.

"Amber, this is great," he praised. "Look at how much you've already accomplished. It's ready to go live."

I waved him off. "First, we need the license, and then we'll need to start baking, then we can put the site live."

"Put it live now so we'll know what to bake," he countered.

His idea wasn't half bad, but I wasn't ready yet.

"I still need to make up flyers and ask the other stores in town if I can put them up, then I need to learn how to run ads. People have to know about the site before they can order."

"I'm here with you, every step of the way," he promised.

I leaned up and kissed him. "I know. You have no idea how happy you make me, knowing you are here. And maybe, just maybe, we can make enough money to satisfy the bank enough not to close on my house just yet."

I knew that dream was farfetched, but it was all I had to hold on to right now, and that was what I needed. I had a goal for the future and a boyfriend who would be by my side no matter what. The temptation to take him up on his offer to buy my house with his diamonds was still strong. I kept thinking about it and wondered if it wasn't worth taking the risk versus losing the cabin that had been in my family for generations.

"I love you, Amber," he whispered in my ear, sending goosebumps down my spine, awakening a familiar tingle between my legs.

"I love you too."

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