Page 45 of My Christmas Alien Mate

I put the finishing touches on breakfast while Galexor took his shower and when he returned, he wore his freshly washed Santa hat and grinned broadly from ear to ear. "Well, I guess that was something that only works in movies."

"What were you thinking?" I reprimanded. "There's a reason they put little captions sayingdon't try this at home."

"I, for one, enjoyed seeing his ass stuck in the chimney," Adred said, sipping on his alcohol-free eggnog.

"I wish I could tell the others about this," Adred remarked wistfully while we ate pancakes and sausages.

"We should have made a holovid," Kzod added with a crooked grin that reminded me of Galexor.

The men shooed me off when I tried to clean the table after we were done eating and told me to rest in the living room while they made my kitchen more spotless than it had been before.

When they were done, we finally sat around the now lit fireplace, listened to Christmas music, and looked at the Christmas tree, which was surrounded by more presents than it had ever seen, warming me from the inside out.

Kzod was the first to pull a wrapped box out to hand it to me.

"Galexor explained this gift giving to us and helped me wrap this," he said, looking a bit sheepish, not like the great High Commander he was at all.

"Thank you, you shouldn't have," I gushed while my chest expanded with love for Galexor and his family.

"Open it," Galexor prompted.

Inside, I found a Roomba box, and questioningly, I looked at Kzod.

"I noticed how much you liked our droids, so I had our engineers modify one of your Earthling Roombas. It may look like an Earthling machine, but it has all our technology inside," Kzod explained.

"Wow!" He was right, the little droid looked exactly like the machines from here. I couldn't wait to try it out. First though, I rose and hugged Kzod. "Thank you. I have something for you too."

I dug through the pile of presents until I found the one I was looking for and handed it to Kzod. He reluctantly peeled the wrapping off and stared in fascination at the picture of him, Adred, and Galexor I had pulled from Galexor's data processor and printed before framing it with one of the frames we bought in Charming.

"This is… very nice, thank you, Amber."

I handed a similar present to Adred. "I know I'm not very original, but I thought you might enjoy one too."

Adred's frame had little green aliens in the corner and Galexor had assured me his brother would love it. Which, judging by his grin, he did.

"I don't have a cool gift like my dad's for you, but I hope you'll still like it."

Inside was a smaller version of Galexor's data processer.

"So you can contact me if my little brother becomes too much of a pest," Adred laughed.

I didn't know what to say other than, "Thank you," and hug him. All my life I had wished for siblings, and it seemed like I had finally found the brother I had been missing for so long.

"You can also access other things, but no Galactic Union secrets I'm afraid. It's a moderated processor."

"This is really cool," I assured him. I had already spent countless hours on Galexor's data processer, learning about all the other species and cultures in the universe.

"Galexor can also show you how to advertise your goodies on here," Adred added.

At my questioning glance, Kzod explained, "We're keeping it kind of hush hush, but our crew loved your cookies. We'll figure something out so that it appears as if Galexor is selling them, but I'm sure you will be busy in no time with orders from all around the universe."

I was floored. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected something like this.

"Which brings me to my presents," Galexor said.

He walked to where his very soot covered Santa sack still stood by the fireplace to pull out two manilla envelopes. "I know you said you didn't want me to, but if you would consider this my contribution in becoming your partner inGrandma's Baked Goods, it would make me very happy."

He handed me the Christmas decorated manilla envelope, and I opened it with shaking hands. Just as I had suspected, it was the deed to my house. "Galexor."

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