An acquaintance of yours asks why you act so strangely around her. She seems a little hurt, and is worried you hate her or something. And the truth of the matter is that you have… well it wouldn’t be right to call it a crush, but you find her very beautiful and have been worried about making a fool of yourself. And it isn’t your intention to harass her or pursue her in any way, you’re not even looking for a relationship or anything right now, you’re just nervous around her for basically no reason, and she’s noticed and she wants to know if she’s done something to offend you.
What on earth is the correct thing to say?
you say you’re worried about harassing her. we need more context on why you’re worried about this to be able to give the best answer. If this is a professional context for either or both of you, the focus should be maximizing your professional rapport by reassuring her without mentioning romance. if it’s a very laid back workplace where strict boundaries aren’t 100% mission critical you miiight get away with something like “in a different life I’d like to know you a little better actually, but I think the most important thing for both of us right now is to keep this professional.” vs if this is an entirely personal relationship you could try something more like,"I’d actually like to know you better if you’re interested but I didn’t want to overstep.“