She had to think she was alone, that the world belonged only to her as she took those tentative, dancing steps onto the grass. Naked, she was holding her smartphone and moving to whatever music she was hearing through the earphones. She was slightly pale and almost too slender, but she moved selflessly through sunlight with a sinuous grace that took Parker by surprise.

Maybe it was just the disbelief of seeing her suddenly walk naked into the yard from the screened porch on the back of the house. After those first few moments, he began to see the hint of curve and shape in her lithe body. Where she'd always struck him as quiet and a little mousey – pretty enough, but not in a very noticeable way – it was as if a statement of waifish sensuality had suddenly been revealed.

She hugged herself, forcing firm, conical breasts into a plaintive pout that made his pulse jack. Her areolae had a distended puffiness, as if each breast had a pale, pink breast of its own.

Parker thought about making noise enough to warn Rachel he was there, in the space above the garage. It had once been an efficiency apartment. He'd used it as a studio, but now Deena, his ex and her new husband, Jim, used it for storage. As Parker and Deena's divorce had gone amicably, he still kept things there, and it wasn't unusual for him to be in or around the house at any given time.

Rachel probably wouldn't have heard him through the earbuds, and Parker decided whatever world she was in was too sweet to disturb. But she was moving her hands down over her hips and caressing her ass and thighs, and he couldn't bring himself to leave her the total privacy she had to believe she was in.

She suddenly grew shy in the sunlight and skipped back to the porch doorway. She closed her eyes and caressed her breasts, cupping and squeezing the creamy flesh until her fingers snaked around her nipples and pinched.

Parker's throat felt dry and constricted. Rachel turned inside. He could see her silhouette through the screen, but before giving himself a chance to think about what he was doing, he padded down the stairs and into the house.

Rachel was something of an anomaly in the house. She was the daughter of a previous wife of Jim's. She probably should have been in college, but for reasons Parker hadn't paid attention to, she'd come into the new marriage along with him; nobody's daughter. Nobody's baby angel.

While Parker had never sensed any awkwardness or tension, Rachel still seemed to live at an arm's length from it all, even though Jim had been married to Deena for almost a year. But then, Deena and Jim kept their own distance, such as now, being away on a trip that didn't include Rachel.

By the time Parker slipped into the living room where he could see most of the porch reflected in the hutch mirror, Rachel was lying on the unfolded studio bed. It was July, and by all appearances, she seemed to have adopted the screen porch as a bedroom for the sultry nights they'd been having.

She was lying across rumpled, white sheets. Her slender thighs were raised and separated, and her hands were calmly traversing the soft terrain of her body. Her palms made the smooth glide along her ribs and across her ripe breasts as she paused to cup and knead her pliable flesh. Then they made the return trip, traveling over her hips to the insides of her thighs, caressing the satin length of each side.

She was breathing at an exaggerated volume. Whatever she was listening to through her earphones was all she could hear. All Parker could hear were the whimpering sighs pushing up from her throat as her breathing slowly grew deeper.

Thighs jutting upward into a widely spaced V, her mound seemed perfectly formed, so carefully pampered as it was, with nothing but a pencil thin landing strip along the curve. One hand slipped over the teacup shape of her pussy, the fan of her fingers firmly rubbing the plush slit Parker couldn't see from where he stood.

She uttered a muted gasp that stretched into some other sound. Her entire body tensed briefly, her breasts puffing upward into new shapes between her arms.

Then Rachel drew her hands away from her pussy, back up along her torso, over her breasts and then off to the sides as she stretched and sighed loudly. Her legs rose higher as she turned herself around to lean against the pile of pillows at the head. Her feet came back close to her body, bringing her knees up and wide as they were before, but now her tender pussy was directly facing the mirror.

Parker realized his neck was damp with sweat. The sight of Rachel's simple grace across the mattress set tiny rivers in motion under his skin. One of her knees dropped to the mattress. She pulled the phones out of her ears and then sucked her ring and middle fingers to moisten them. She cupped a breast in one hand and slipped the other over the delicate slit facing the mirror.

Her breasts seemed bigger from this angle, and Parker had always thought it was as beautiful a way to look at a woman as any. The more he watched her move, the more he realized how fluid and selfless her sensuality was, and how deep it ran inside her.

She brought her fingers back to her mouth and sucked them again. The other hand left her breast and moved down to spread and frame her pussy with long, slender fingers, while the right went again to attend to her swelling lips. She stroked her slit up and down and rubbed from side to side, massaging herself thoroughly, eagerly.

Her breath grew deeper, sharper, louder as she rubbed harder and faster. Her head rolled back, deeper into the pillows while her hips began to heave with a subtle roll.

Parker felt his cock uncoil inside his loose pants. He felt like a complete interloper, and at the same time he felt a deep connection with the shy, solitary nineteen year old. Though she had no idea he was anywhere nearby, she was teaching him how beautiful loneliness could be.

She was teaching him you could love yourself with as much care as you could ever love someone else. He wondered what she'd think if she ever imagined, more than anything, she was teaching him how she herself could be loved.

Then she stopped again. Took a break. She rolled her head and looked outside. Parker felt her will to be caressed. It was as clear and tangible as any pair of hands that had ever touched him. She came back to herself and pressed her hand over her slit again. She moaned, not too softly this time and ground her fingers in a broad circular motion, pulling her lips around in her fingers' path.