Hey everyone!

So a bit about myself: I'm turning 23 in a couple of months, have my degree already and I'm now an intern in a company till April (for context reasons, in the country I live in, it's not as common to immediately get hired after an internship, but it's still a company, I would eventually love to work for in the future). I'm attractive, I have my friends and hobbies and I also feel confident personality-wise. All in all, I think I have a pretty good head on my shoulders for my age and I don't really have a problem getting guys attention, but I must admit that in the past few years, I had been really concentrated on my studies and on bettering myself, so there hasn't been much going on relationship-wise.

To get to the point finally, there's an older ('older', as in his early 40s-->red flag nr.1) guy at work (red flag nr.2), with whom from the first moment we saw eachother, there was this instant attraction. And from then on (it's been a couple of months), he always finds excuses to come by my office (he works in another building in the company and also another department) and also started sitting at 'our' department's table at lunch. At first I didn't have a problem, b/c I thought he just wanted the attention of a 20-y.o. and wouldn't pursue anything, but then he started coming closer and I was always just nice, but nothing too much, b/c the whole situation freaked me out at first. Then, he came up to me and introduced himself one day, just out of the blue and he always stares at me, smiles at me across the room or the cafeteria and finds excuses to talk to me, but I avoid the whole thing.

The thing is, I would never even think about doing anything about it, a) b/c of the age gap and b)b/c we work at the same place. I don't know why, but the age -from an attraction standpoint- doesn't bother me at all anymore and I find him really, really attractive and I can't stop thinking about him. My only thoughts regarding the age gap, is that I immediately think, that the only thing he is interested in, is sex with a 20-something year old and nothing else and would never take me seriously. But then I think, that this could ofc be the case, but it's always in my hands to decide -after getting to know him- if our expectations match and if not, go our separate ways. In this situation, b/c we work in the same place, if anything were to happen, it would go extremely slow anyway and I would make it clear from the start.

So I decided I can start acting normal and at least talk to him at work and see where it goes from there and if it goes anywhere at all. My problem is, I am so so shy around him and I'm not like that normally, even with guys I like, I'm really outgoing. But, I feel so pressured to act mature and be interesting and not act 'too young' for him, which I know isn't the case, b/c I have talked 100 of times with older people and was always able to hold the conversation. I should also note, that I'm like that with most older people at work, b/c I feel like I need to make a good impression now that I'm interning there and I get really self-conscious when I have a conversation. So this behaviour isn't exclusive to him, it's just a little more when I'm around him. My 'biggest fear' is that he'll start talking to me at the lunch table and you know, I'll also have an audience and not just him to answer to. Please tell me 1)if you think, that the only thing an older guy would want from someone younger is sex 2)what I can do, to get over this anxiety, that I have, when it comes to talking to him. I mean even if nothing happens or even if i.e. I were to get to know him and not like him at all, I don't like, that I feel so scared of doing something so normal, like talking to someone...It's not aligned with my personality at all. I know it's all in my head, but if you have any tips, please help me. 3)also if you have any tips about older guys in general.

Thanks a lot and sorry for the wall of text!