casually playing hard to get...

i met this guy online he was super into the military life and we hit it off instantly. he's in the reserves and has a real job so we've been texting for weeks now but i haven't seen him in person yet. we text back and forth daily, sometimes multiple times a day, chatting about everything from our jobs to movies we like to future plans. he keeps asking me out on dates but i'm still playing hard to get because i want it to be perfect when it happens. so last night we were texting and stuff got heated pretty fast. he was telling me how much he wanted to see me, how beautiful i am, all this sweet stuff that made my heart flutter for sure. then he asked me point blank if he could come over tonight and i froze up a bit. i didn't know what to say, part of me wanted it so bad but another part was scared of making things too real or fast. so instead of answering right away i ghosted him for like an hour thinking about it. when i finally got back to him he said something along the lines of not knowing if i'd ever give him a chance. that really stung, he seemed so sincere and genuine but here i was stringing him along or whatever. in the end we made plans for dinner next weekend instead of me coming over, which feels like such a cop out but also maybe the right move to give us both time to get ready? don't know if i'm being super selfish with this, but honestly that moment of hesitation and his comment about never knowing if i'd give him a chance really stuck with me today. is it just best to let things unfold naturally even if that means waiting when all my body wants is to run towards him? so lost right now.