Awkward.
I’m recently divorced after my husband of 20 years had an affair. I’m still quite nervous about getting into a relationship and it’s not been a priority.
About 18 months ago (shortly after splitting up from ex-DH) I met a colleague who does a similar job to me from another company. We work closely alongside each other every few months and I have enjoyed getting to know him.
The long and the short of it is that I am finding that my feelings for him are growing. At first I assumed he was married, but he never has been, then I assumed he was gay, but he made a comment that suggested he isn’t (which may have been a smokescreen...) so it should be an open goal. Except it isn’t, because if it made a move and he rejected it then I would still have to see him all the time through work. I really don’t want any awkwardness and I am too fragile for a rejection at the moment.
I don’t want to put him in an awkward situation because he’s just so utterly lovely and don’t want to jeopardise our friendship.
He gives off mixed signals. At a conference about 6 months ago he worked hard to move various people from their seats so that we could sit next to each other. Around the same time, I texted him inviting him to lunch and he ignored it. He’s an introvert and quite shy, but has a fairly public job which I know he finds draining and he often needs to retreat to recharge his batteries (as do I). I just can’t read him.
We have a mutual colleague from another company that is close friends with both of us. I’d ask him in a flash for help, but don’t want to put him in a position where he may feel compromised professionally.
I’ve forgotten how this stuff works. Should I just ask him if he fancies a good, hard shag?