It's not so adorable

A guy at work has a crush on me. He's been awkwardly flirting for days. The sad thing is instead of feeling butterflies I feel embarrassed. I look at this cute young man and think "Are you flirting? I think you are. That's adorable!" and I keep using that word: adorable. That's the only way I can describe him. He's 27 but looks 22. He's 5'8" (maybe 5'9"), curly black hair, blue eyes. Aside from the age and the height and the obvious lack of a British accent he fits my criteria - but I keep thinking of kittens & puppies & bunnies when I should be thinking of hot tubs & candles & chocolate sauce. Not a good sign!

He stopped by to talk to me one afternoon at work. We have a mutual love of science fiction. I asked if he watches Battlestar Galactica. He does but he missed an episode and has fallen hopelessly behind. I have every episode stored on my DVR and I impulsively invited him to come over to catch up on Friday. I gave him my phone number so he could call for directions.

Today he sent me a text message inviting me to join him for taco salad in the cafeteria. I got the message two hours later after lunch with coworkers at Pizza Shoppe. Sorry dude. He stopped by to chitchat this afternoon and I finally got rid of him after half an hour by saying I had to get back to work. He called at 5 to see if I was on the way out so we could talk a bit. He was waiting for me outside. I said I was on my way to the post office and couldn't chat for long. He called again at 5:20 to ask if I made it before the last mail pickup at 5:15. I tried three times to end the call and he finally let me go at 6:15. He said he'd talk to me later. I said he'd talk to me tomorrow - firmly. Oy vey.

Now my internal psychologist is running full tilt. Do I think he's coming on too strong because he is, or is it that years of not being in a relationship/being in a one-sided relationship have warped my idea of normal? Do I just not like him or am I making excuses because I'm afraid of failing? I've been told that I'm too picky. I'm not sure if that person meant "fat girls can't be choosy" or "stop holding guys to ridiculously high standards". Do I look for ways to eliminate every potential boyfriend before he even has a chance, or am I a realist who knows herself too well to waste time on the incompatibles?

There's another guy at work that I've been eyeballing for several months. He's 6'2", in his early 40s, purrrrrr... I can't describe him any further. THAT is how a gal should feel about a guy she's dating. If *he* wanted to call me and talk for hours I would drop everything. He's a friend of the girl in the cubicle next to me. I am way too intimidated to talk to him. His friend even offered to say something to him and I told her not to because he's out of my league. Sigh...

So, what do I do about my admirer? Should I use him for target practice (I am out of practice)? Should I build up my confidence, bask in the sunshine of being liked, then move on to the stud muffin? Should I kindly tell him that I don't want to be more than friends? Oh, I don't know. I guess we'll see how annoyed I get by Friday.