I feel very attracted towards someone I barely know

[Gingerguy]

That guy is an MD who had been trained in the US (I live in Europe). We work in the same hospital. It's not easy to say who is "higher" in the so called hierarchy. We have a collab but we have different roles, I'd say we're more or less equal on that matter. But him being in the US has made him snobbish I presume. I was very shy on approaching him. I had to for professional reasons. That dude (I believe he's around 10 years odler tha me, he must be 40 or 39 not sure) was stone cold. But for some reason I'm so into him. He's a cute guy but my heart was set aflame. I liked him from the first time I saw him. I always thought that we would never even talk (different sections, it's just that things turned out that we collab unexpectedly). And even if we did he would be either straight or not interested.

I do have the feeling that he's both hard to approach and he's not too comfortable around people. When he saw me a little later than that (some hours he greeted me) and the next day we had a little chat. That could sound like he's trying to be a little more friendly. Of course it says nothing about him being into me I understand that. But my feelings are so strong. Why would they be for someone who is almost a stranger? Just looking at me makes me happy. When he talked me I felt what "being high" means. He makes my heart beat fast. I know that it's hard to get any closer but even thinking of him radiates happiness. At the same time I admire him. He went to the US to train, that is so tough. It makes me thing that I too shouldn't be afraid. I have many "talents" but I'm hesitant in many things. I'm scared of training abroad. I'm equally qualified in many things and yet never tried to make this cloud of narcissism around me. It makes me think that I'm too quiet for my own good. I wanna penetrate that coldness around him, delve deeper to his world.

The other day he grabbed my shoulder and told me something. It felt so intense. Sometimes we're bored watching porn with the dick in our hands. And he barely touched me while I was fully dressed in my shoulder and that was so much more intense.

Am I overanalysing? Do I stand a chance? And how can I get closer without overdoing it?

[NLbear]

You don't know if he's gay? Just be friendly and make him feel you are someone he can talk to. There may be a reason he put up a wall around him (if I'm reading this right).

[ErosWired]

This is the third occasion in recent times, if I recall correctly, that someone has come in with a question of this nature about being attracted to someone in a professional setting - and they’ve all been people who work in hospitals. Is there something about hospitals that brings this out in people? The loose-fitting scrubs? The parallels in the narratives are oddly similar.

[fisterm8]

Always give him eye contact when speaking to him and smile a lot... Chat to him and ask him things but not too probing... Drinks after work or lunch? Once he falls for you - you will know. 

[Heir2012]

It's not odd being attracted to someone you hardly know. That happens a lot. There are men on here I've been attracted to without much interaction outside of seeing their profile pics. We see people at bars and we like them, urging us to approach and talk. It's how it goes.

Yes, you do have to be careful as it is a workplace and you don't want to do something that gets HR involved. Be friendly. Find out information about him without doing so in a creepy way that shows that you're trying to gain information. Simply, get to know him. If you find out that he's gay and may have some interest in you, then go for it. 

Also, his cold behavior could be a sign of social awkwardness. 

[PozBearWI]

Indeed...  Joe, Stephen Colbert's drummer is a guy who I am very attracted to and yet I've never met him, and likely never will.

[BootmanLA]

21 hours ago, ErosWired said:

This is the third occasion in recent times, if I recall correctly, that someone has come in with a question of this nature about being attracted to someone in a professional setting - and they’ve all been people who work in hospitals. Is there something about hospitals that brings this out in people? The loose-fitting scrubs? The parallels in the narratives are oddly similar.

Two additional thoughts. Hospitals (or at least parts of them) are often filled with drama - not the petty high school how-dare-she-talk-to-him kind, but the "guy in the next bed in the ER is coding" kind. Spend enough time in that, and either you become inured to it, or you stay on a constantly heightened state of alertness and reaction, with feelings coursing below the surface.

And possibly because of that, there are lots of TV medical dramas, about ER workers and EMTs and risky trauma surgeons and the like, and they're full of people in the workplace fighting off attractions to each other and having affairs and what not. Maybe enough of that kind of stuff in the culture makes that stuff manifest itself, almost as though it's expected?