Turned down date from woman?

[Anonymous]

I'm interested to know if this woman liked me.. For context about 3 weeks ago a woman connected in with me on LinkedIn and sent me a bunch of personal questions (travel, teasing, etc) without discussing any work-related content When she found out I had a meeting near where she worked, she asked me out for coffee. I went and I liked her vibe (I work in recruitment and I wasn't sure what her intentions were so I didn't flirt and kept it professional) From here she messaged me daily. I mentioned a new bar that opened in her area (she just moved house and I gave her suggestions about places she could go) and she wanted to go with me. I turned her down and told her I have a girlfriend and suggested it's not a good idea to keep texting me. She wrote back and agreed. She also said that "I was just looking for connections in the industry. Sorry if this caused confusion" I'm wondering if you think she's being honest or she just wrote that because I turned down drinks and she feels a bit hurt by it? I was looking at her as a potential lead/client but work didn’t seem on her radar with these interactions…

[Valdemort]

No, she likely feels hurt by it and is covering up the fact that there was an interest. Probably to not make you seem like a bad guy either for going out to have a drink with her while you're actually in a relationship.

[Asker]

Do you think she was looking to date?

I tried to keep all of our interactions platonic/non flirty but I got the impression that maybe she was looking for something more…the drinks invite is what made me pull away

[Valdemort]

Hard to tell, but considering she reached out and asked you twice, I wouldn't be surprised. There's not really a reason to hang out with someone privately, if you're neither friends nor colleagues, in my opinion.

[Asker]

do you think I should call her? A lot of all this has been over text and she's actually been a pretty cool person so I feel like a bit of a dick for shutting her down.

[Anonymous]

Good for you. You should not just go out with someone for the sake of feeling obligated to do so.