Not sure if this is the right board for this post. If not, let me know and I'll gladly move it to another.
Let me start out by saying that, although I don't post very often, I love reading some of the information and insights that you all post, as they have provided substantial learning opportunities for myself and others. The following post is a bit of a long one, but bear with me!
Now my current situation is a good old fashioned challenge. I have hung out with this HB8.5 on two separate occasions, all in social settings. After the first night (a Thursday), she came back to my place, a lot of kissing and a lot of talking, but no F-Close at her insistence. A few days after that, I sent her a message saying that I had a great night and looked forward to seeing her again.
We ended up going out together again this past Friday (8 days after the initial) and had another great time. It was at a bar, but we were able to do a lot of talking and really started to learn about each other on a personal level. Funny thing is that at first she was acting sort of moody and deliberately told me about 2 guys that she is seeing. I froze her out, talked to her friend that was with her and started gaming other girls in the bar. Because of that, she started doing that attention whore thing that girls do when they aren't your focus. I playfully called her a brat, began kinoing again and she was eating from the palm of my hand for the rest of the night. We went back to her place, layed in bed talking and, although the kissing got really intense (at one point I thought she was going to have the "big O" just from kissing -- why yes, I am THAT good

), she still insisted on no sex and not sleeping together, meaning I had to leave at 6am. She also talked a lot about the other two guys that she goes on dates with occasionally (both are apparent AFCs and one is already giving her a cheesy pet name)Despite these possible transgressions, the night went ended well from my vantage point... She seemed to be hooked, started using rhetoric that implies she's thinking of an 'us' situation, and enjoyed herself. We made plans to have dinner at this restaurant that we've both wanted to try for Monday night (3 days after the day 2).
Today, I messaged her saying that I had a better idea and would cook for her tomorrow (Monday) night instead (DHV? I know my around a kitchen!) of going out to eat. She is yet to respond 5 hours later, but I'm not really worried about that. My 2 concerns are as follows:
1. I haven't been able to F-Close yet. Should I be beating myself up over this? This is part of the reason why I canceled going out to eat and instead offered to stay in for a more romantic experience. What stops would you pull out tomorrow evening to ensure that it ends well?
2. I need to blow out the competition. They are both chumps, but she has indicated that she is looking for a serious relationship and I've been honest with her in saying that "ultimately I think we are all looking for someone serious, but I want to take things slow and continue building this great connection that we have together." She also knows that I'm seeing other people (2 F-Closes with 2 different girls between Days 1 & 2) My game has been good so far (by no means perfect; I see where I could have improved at times), but it hasn't been good enough to "crack" that barrier of hers, or the competition. My concern is that the competition seems to be moving fast and if I keep taking my time and being methodical, I'm going to miss my shot. What would you do? Keep playing it cool and relaxed, or up the ante?