Search Results: should i ask her out first date

Hi! I am clueless and dumb in the dating scene so please don't skin me alive but still give your honest opinions please! I met this guy on a dating site 2 weeks ago and he seemed really interested in me and asked to meet right away after texting for about 3 days. I was a little hesitant on meeting as I've been on dates previously and had wasted my time getting played, so asked him to meet a week later to see if he was still interested. We texted back and forth for the entire week and met up. The date went really well, good connection, he held my hand and asked for a second date straightaway. I deleted my dating app a week ago and told him so when he asked if I was seeing anyone else.
So, two days after our first date, we met up again, though this time the conversation a bit dry and I was nervous. He told me he had deleted the dating app while we were on our walk then sat us down in a garden where convo didn't flow smoothly resulting in long awkward silent pauses. I tried to bring up convo but they ended dryly. He put his arm around me and after another awkward silence, gave me a little peck on the lips. We left and I walked him back to his car where he gave me another peck again, this time not mentioning a third date at all. After the second date, he didn't text as quickly as he did the first time, so I initiated contact first and thanked him for the date. He replied the next day but since then his replies have been slower than they were before. His texting tone had remained the same though. I'd also noticed he'd been online on the dating app recently too. I think it's fairly obvious he's lost interest but I like to be blindly optimistic at the wrong time, so someone knock some sense into me? Thanks. He's also quite a busy person so maybe that's why? Should I ask for a third date or leave it be :'(