Saving Grace

(This is an official entry into the 2008 Literotica Halloween story contest. I hope you will read all of this year's submissions, and please don't forget to vote and/or leave a comment.)

*****

Jessica leaned against the doorway of her daughter's room, watching the tiny form upon the shadowed bed. The sweet aroma of warm milk permeated the air, mingling with the fragrance of rose incense wafting from the living room. The dichotomy of the two scents reminded Jessica of her life before and after the arrival of Baby Grace.

A single mistake, a fumbling, drunken decision made in the heat of the moment, and her life had been changed forever. For the better, to be honest; Jessica was more than capable of handling the financial stress of being a single mother, and the joys of rediscovering the world through her year-old child's eyes was nothing less than magical.

But damn it if she didn't miss sex.

Not that she lacked for attention; fifteen months after giving birth, Jessica was able to wriggle back into the same party dress she had worn that fateful Halloween night. She had often joked to friends that being half Chinese meant she never had to worry about losing her slim, girlish figure. It seemed that not a day passed in which she did not enjoy a flirtatious man's approach. Having a child, however, changed her reactions -- and those of any would-be admirer -- dramatically. Most men, she had come to discover, were leery of involving themselves with a single mother. Especially when the child was so young.

Jessica was not about to compromise her daughter's safety or happiness. She became more choosy, more discerning. She accepted the fact that her life was different now. No more carefree evenings dancing and getting drunk, looking for the night's next available partner. Now, it was quiet evenings sitting at home, with the baby thankfully sleeping through the night as Jessica lived a vicarious life through cable television.

With a last loving smile upon her child, Jessica closed the door and padded around the end of the couch. The bottle of Corona sat open and waiting, pulp from the lime squeezed through the bottle's mouth floating upon the surface of the golden liquid. Making sure the baby monitor was turned on and attuned to the right frequency, Jessica curled her legs beneath her on the couch and flipped open her phone. She had missed a call while bathing the baby, and it turned out to have been from her best friend.

"Hi, Kelly," Jessica said when the other end was picked up. "You called?"

"Sure did, mama," Kelly responded with her typical rasp. Men always found her voice sexy. "What'cha doing on Halloween?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Sure, rub it in," she bemoaned. "I'm looking forward to another fun-filled night of passing out candy to a couple hundred junior Wolverines and having all the parents tell me how cute Grace looks in her bunny rabbit costume."

"You know, it still gets me sometimes."

"What does?"

"How you just named her Grace. It was like, you were all set to name her after your mom, and then poof! You put Grace on the birth certificate. Like it just popped out of nowhere."

Jessica shrugged. "It kind of did. But now I wonder how I ever thought of calling her something else. I guess babies sometimes just name themselves."

"Maybe," Kelly admitted. "Anyway, about Halloween. Trick-or-treating will be done by, what, eight o'clock?"

"Something like that. Why? I can't go anywhere, Kel."

"Not even if you had a babysitter?"

Jessica sighed, reaching for her beer. She settled back into the corner of the plush leather couch. "I already asked Devin, but she's got plans. Go figure. What nineteen-year-old is gonna give up Halloween night to babysit? I even offered to pay her double."

"Well . . . ."

Jessica frowned in suspicion. "What are you thinking?"

"What if I got you a babysitter?"

Jessica grumbled under her breath. "You know how I feel about that," she said. "Day care is one thing. But leaving Grace alone with someone else . . . I gotta be careful."

"Even if it's my mom?"

Jessica exhaled a heavy breath. "Your mom smokes," she said pointedly. "Besides, I don't want to take Grace out of her comfort zone."

"Yeah, I know. But I already talked to her about it. You know how my mom adores you. She said she'd come over to your place, and she won't smoke inside."

Jessica chewed her lip. "Maybe. I don't know. Besides, I don't wanna get drunk and then come home."

"So, I'll keep an eye on you, make sure you don't get wasted."

"Yeah, right!" Jessica sputtered in laughter.

"Hey, come on. When's the last time Pocahontas went on the prowl?"

Jessica chuckled. Her Pocahontas costume had been tucked away in a box for almost three years, now. It was a decidedly more adult version of the garment depicted in the Disney movie, with a scandalously tiny skirt and low-necked top. With her long black hair in twin braids, Jessica looked the part of a sexy, brazen Indian queen perfectly.

"That's not fair, Kelly."

Her best friend chuckled. "Come on. You might even hook up. My mom said she'd watch Ellie all night if it meant you might get some action."

"Yeah, and that would be it. I get laid for one night, and then the guy finds out I have a kid."

"You'll still get laid," Kelly insisted in her deadpan, matter-of-fact way.

Another sigh escaped Jessica's lips. "It might surprise you, but sex is not the most important thing in the world."

"Neither is chocolate, but you still gotta have it."

Jessica chuckled. "Oh, well now you're making sense."

"Of course I am. So that settles it. You're coming out on Halloween."

"Okay, fine," Jessica finally agreed with a reluctant smile. "But I'm gonna be more careful this time, and so are you."

"Pfft! Yeah, whatever."

The conversation wandered off on other tangents for a while before Jessica finally hung up. She had finished her first beer while talking, and rose to get another before the start of one of her favorite shows, a medical comedy-drama that starred one of the sexiest men in America, at least as far as Jessica was concerned. Squeezing a lime into her second Corona, she settled once more into the couch, pulling the hand-woven quilt bequeathed by her mother just before breast cancer had taken her.

"-- Hey! This thing still works!"

Jessica frowned at the sound of the static-shrouded feminine voice. That's not coming from the TV, she thought, glancing around.

"How do you know it's working?" It was a man's voice, smooth and strong, despite the interference.

"'Cause the little light's on. Duh."

Jessica rolled her eyes, sitting up to grab the baby monitor. Shit, that's all I need. Picking up someone else's conversation. They told me this might happen with the cheap models, but I paid sixty bucks for this!

"Why do you even have a baby monitor?" the man's voice asked. "You don't have a kid, do you?"

"No, I got it for a friend of mine couple years ago. But she already had one." A wondering laugh interrupted her words. "Might as well hang onto it, just in case, you know?"

"I hope that's not a warning."

The woman laughed again. "No, I'm on the pill, and I'm gonna stay that way for a few more years at least. Besides . . . I mean, it's only our fourth date. I still, uh, believe in protection."

"Of course."

With a huff, Jessica pushed up from the couch, intending to sneak into her daughter's room to change the frequency on the monitor beside Grace's bed. But as she did so, the muffled sound of her baby's sleepy voice intruded upon the eavesdropped conversation. Nonsensical murmurs accompanied by a long, droning moan. The typical sounds elicited by Grace's infantile dreams.

Still, I should switch frequencies, Jessica told herself, hand upon the knob to Grace's room. I can't just listen in on someone else's conver--

"-- Thinking maybe we would just stay in tonight," the man's voice sounded once more. "It's already after nine."

"I know. I'm sorry. Work kept me late and--" The woman's voice was muffled for a brief moment before being replaced by soft moans and the unmistakable wet smacking sounds of passionate kissing.

Jessica's brow arched in voyeuristic interest. Hmm. Okay, maybe it wouldn't hurt to listen for just a few minutes . . . .

She returned to the couch, her eyes falling to the monitor as if she could watch the scene. The TV flickered in the background, but she was no longer paying attention. Taking up her beer, she grinned like a mischievous teenager, listening to the passionate drama unfolding through the monitor.

". . . Mmm, Vic . . . God damn, you're a good kisser," the woman was saying.

"Only as good as my partner," the man named Vic responded. More heated kissing ensued. Vic's lover was obviously becoming aroused. The sound of fabric moving was just discernible beneath her heated sighs. After a few moments, the woman gasped aloud, then cooed appreciatively.

Must be doing something right, Vic, Jessica thought with a giggle. What's he doing? Kissing her neck? Her breasts? Or maybe he's one of those typically direct guys who goes right for the honey pot--

"Fuck, yes," moaned the woman. "Bite 'em, baby. Bite--" she hissed loudly. "--yeah, like that . . . ."

Jessica nibbled her lip, feeling the warmth of arousal in the pit of her stomach. She rubbed her thighs together, just little movements that stimulated the suddenly needy swelling of her clitoris.

"Lay back, baby, let me do something for you," Vic said. Even through the filter of the monitor, his voice sounded strong and confidant to Jessica. A real man's voice. She imagined him tall, well-built, with dark hair and chiseled features, like a modern Rock Hudson or Christopher Reeve, leaning over a swooning damsel more than ready to give in to his attentions.

"God damn, you're sexy," the woman sighed. The sound of a body moving atop leather -- like that of Jessica's own couch -- was unmistakable. Jessica could just picture the unnamed woman reclining back, wantonly spreading her legs and staring up into the eyes of her lover. She giggled suddenly amid a brief sound of movement. "You like, baby? I shaved it all off, just for you."

Jessica chuckled, rolling her eyes. Oh, he's one of those guys, she thought, suddenly conscious of the sparse but tangled hair above and around her long-neglected sex.

"Hmm. Looks good enough to eat," Vic answered.

"Prove it."

Jessica felt her own pussy swelling and becoming more than a little slick as, for the following quarter hour or so, she was treated to the sounds of a firm tongue and talented lips caressing the obviously wet, intimate center of the lucky young woman's being. There was little dialogue to tell Jessica exactly what was going on, but her fertile imagination constructed the scene in her mind: the woman, stretched out across the couch, her legs spread widely and supported by Vic's strong arms. Jessica imagined dainty feet -- not unlike her own -- settled upon the shoulders of a sun-bronzed, Adonis physique while the man busied his tongue between the folds of a smooth-shaved pussy.

By the time the woman announced her orgasm with a long series of caloric gasps and hoarse cries, Jessica's hand had wandered beneath the waistband of her house pants, fingers stroking slick lips and a greedy, demanding clitoris. The TV was forgotten, and the beer sat neglected upon the coffee table. The ripe aroma of her own arousal filled the air about her like a cloud.

"I guess you liked that," Vic said at last, adding a confidant chuckle at the end of his statement.

"Oh, fuck yes," the woman replied. There was more kissing, more sighs and giggles and moans.

"Your turn," the woman said at last.

Oh, good girl, Jessica thought, feeling a twitch in her pussy. Returning the favor . . . .

"Don't do it just to please me," Vic said as the sounds of movement indicated, at least as far as Jessica was able to deduce, a reversal of the couple's positions on the couch.

"Baby," the girl said along to the sounds of thick coarse fabric -- denim, Jessica realized -- being dragged along skin. "I almost never get off from a guy going down on me. Trust me, you deserve what I'm gonna do for you. Just, um . . . you know, let me know when you're gonna get off, okay?"

"You don't want me to come in your mouth," the man observed.

"It's just . . . it's not the taste or anything, it's just . . . I don't know. Maybe, okay? But tell me first before you come."

Jessica clucked her tongue. She must be young, she thought. Probably had a bad experience giving head.

"I promise," Vic said. There was more crinkling of leather, then a long, drawn-out sigh from him. Jessica licked her lips, grinning, imagining a wet tongue sliding along what would have to be an impressive, swollen shaft. She wondered if Vic was circumcised or not. Personally, she had always preferred at least some foreskin on a man's cock. She was fascinated by the way it moved, sliding back and forth like a velvet sheath.

As when Vic pleasured his lover, there were few words to help Jessica construct the scene in her head as the woman gorged herself on Vic's manhood. Given the wet slurping sounds, the many gasps and moans and occasional hisses of pleasure, the accompanying muffled giggles and cooing sounds from the woman's cock-filled mouth, Jessica had no problem imagining the impressively-built Vic sitting like a king upon his throne, legs parted for the woman who knelt between them, her head bobbing furiously, lips becoming wet and frothy, one hand stroking the thick shaft while the other caressed swollen testicles ready to burst.

"Casey . . . Casey, baby, I'm gonna come." The desperation was telling in Vic's voice. He was on the verge of exploding, Jessica could tell. Bet he's hoping she'll take it in her mouth . . . .

But Vic's lover, Casey, gasped loudly with a wet popping and slurping sound which indicated the vacation of her mouth by Vic's cock. Loud wet smacking sounds filtered through the crackling monitor. "Come on, baby!" she urged hotly. "Do it for me! Come on!"

Jessica's fingers delved between the lips of her sex, into moist heat beyond, clutching tightly as she witnessed the arousing sounds of Vic's orgasm. She could imagine his impressive cock spasming in Casey's tight grip, spraying thick ribbons of semen in the air that would splash onto his lover's arm and pumping hand, upon his abdomen and perhaps even getting a little on the young woman's face. And she imagined his somewhat mild disappointment.

Grace's crying interrupted the affectionate giggles of sexual aftermath, compelling Jessica to withdraw her hand from within her pants and rise from the couch. As she headed to the bedroom door, she thought smugly, I would've let him come in my mouth.

*****

"That's wild!" Kelly exclaimed after Jessica had briefly related the story of the previous evening. The two women were shopping, as was their typical Tuesday afternoon activity when Jessica had a short day at the office and there were a couple of hours to kill before she had to pick up Grace from daycare.

"It was pretty surrealistic," Jessica admitted, looking over a selection of Donna Karan blouses on the discount rack. While she enjoyed a fairly impressive salary, Jessica had always been a frugal shopper. It was a habit learned during her years as a penny-pinching grad student.

"You know who they are?"

Jessica shook her head. "No, but I got the impression it was her apartment they were in."

"Well, she's gotta live close," Kelly commented, tossing back her wispy red hair. "Those monitors don't have a real great range."

"She doesn't live in my building, I'm sure of that. They're all families. But the next building over is all one-bedroom units. She's probably in one of those. I figure she's kind'a young. Maybe a college student."

"What about the guy?"

Jessica shrugged. "Only thing I'm sure of about him is that he's older. Maybe my age, maybe over thirty. But he's definitely not some dumb college frat guy."

Kelly chuckled impishly. "Bet you'd love to have a guy like that waiting in the wings when you need some," she remarked cattily.

Jessica groaned. "Sure. Some hot hunk to fuck when I can't stand being horny anymore, then send him on his way with a kiss on the cheek. Give him twenty bucks for cab fare."

Kelly grimaced. "Well, look who's gotten so cynical."

Jessica sighed, flipping through an endless rack of identical white cotton tops, not one of which was below a size eight. "You know, everything really does change when you have a baby," she said with more than a little frustration. "Most of it's good, like watching her grow, and watching her walk and learn and talk. But some of it really sucks ass, you know? Like not having a social life anymore. Don't get me wrong; I love Grace. Nothing on this planet will ever be more important to me than her. And that's why I feel so guilty about doing anything without her."

"Well, hey, I'd suggest bringing her out on Halloween, but I don't think the bars would let her in."

Jessica shot her friend a look. "Hey, I'm being serious here."

"Yeah, and so am I," Kelly insisted, turning to face her best friend squarely. "Look, I get it. You're a single mom. Ellie's the center of your life. That's the way it should be. I'd be that way, too. But damn it, Jessica! There's nothing wrong with the occasional bout of hedonism once in a while. You wanna be a martyr all your life?"

Jessica gritted her teeth. "I know what you're saying. And I know you're right. But that's not gonna stop me from thinking about every action I take, because everything I do is gonna affect Grace, too."

Kelly smiled supportively, taking Jessica by the shoulders. "You know when we were kids, and I'd come over? You remember how your mom was? All those lectures about doing the right thing and putting family first?"

Jessica nodded. "I believe in all that."

Kelly's smile was unwavering, but it was mitigated by the firm sense of maturity in her eyes. "I do, too, hon. But there's a lot to be said for sanity. You gotta cut loose once in a while, otherwise it's all gonna build up. And then it's gonna explode."

"You afraid I'm gonna explode?"

Kelly's face became serious. "I've seen it happen," she said. "Like, after you found out you were pregnant."

Jessica groaned. "Okay, look. I admit I freaked out. But that wasn't because I was pregnant, it was because of that deadbeat asshole who--"

"Jess! Jess!" Kelly exclaimed, fixing her best friend with a steadying look. "You forgetting I've been here all this time? I know it's not easy for you. And that's exactly why I need you to come out and let your hair down. You need this, Jess. You know you do. Otherwise you're gonna end up drinking yourself six feet under."

Jessica nodded reluctantly. "Like my mom, you mean."

Kelly gave her friend an apologetic look. "You know you don't wanna be a human sacrifice all your life."

Jessica's shoulders fell. "You always were my big sister."

Kelly beamed knowingly. "Yep."

*****

With the toys cleared up and the TV channel changed from kids' cartoons to something a little more adult-minded, Jessica kissed her daughter good night, tucking the flower-print blanket around Grace's neck and making sure the bottle filled with Pedialyte lay within reach. Closing the door to the bedroom, Jessica headed for the shower, sighing with relief as the city was washed away from her skin. She didn't bother with anything other than a loose cotton shirt after she dried off, and returned to the living room, eying the baby monitor speculatively.

But after a couple hours of somewhat entertaining programming, the monitor remained silent other than the occasional moan or murmur from Grace. Twice, Jessica checked in on her daughter, disentangling the infant from her blanket and retrieving the stuffed orange bear that had been tossed over the edge of the playpen turned crib.