Would the guy think it was a date?

Be careful with this.

I lost a friend over this kind of thing once. We worked together, too. She was my subordinate. She was single (and sexy) -- but I never revealed this to her. She was a good friend. We grew to be very close. As a sales manager, she handled ALL of my dept. 's paperwork.

But, one night, my wife got in a bad fight with her when they were drunk by my fireside. I wasn't there to witness what the hell happened, but I was told that "the home-wrecker wanna-be would never take our girls, and was not allowed over any more".

Needless to say, I had to quit my job 2 months later -- for another company.

Stay away from this like the plague. Please, for your own sake.

NO!
I think if you say having lunch together and it's plainly said just lunch it's not a date but if you wanted to take him to dinner and drinks late he may thank of it that way

No. I'd think it was brilliant because I got lunch for free. But no dates to me are usually something I am well aware of and have to plan stuff out in advance for a fun evening. Unless this guy is creepy, or a desperate wank, then your fine.

People would have various definitions for dating. But base of all being "dating is just going out and spending time together". So if you think it was one of those events. Yeah it is a date :-)