the dating game

i'm the queen of over-thinking and over-analyzing.  i could use some sane advice here.

i decided to put myself out there and sign up for an online dating site.  i'm not totally sure i'm ready to be dating, but i figure that meeting new people and having fun doesn't hurt anything.  so i put together a profile on a free site to see what was out there.

i got offers for casual relationships--something i'm not interested in.  i got a serious response from one guy.  we will call him J.  we emailed for a couple of weeks and then met for coffee.  i set it up at a time where i had some where to be in case i didn't like him.  i gave us about an hour and a half.

i had a nice time.  the conversation flowed and was very easy.  he's 33 and has a 5 year old son that he has primary custody of.  he's a computer programmer.  he's also a writer who is getting ready to have his first book published.  we like similar movies and music.  when the coffee date was over, he asked if i would like to go out.  i told him to call me, and we would set something up.

long story short--we had a dinner date last night.  he took me to carrabba's. it was nice.  we sat and talked so long that all of a sudden it was 11pm (we met at 7:30 pm).  turns out that we share political views, which is nice.  it was just a great night.

so here is my dilemma.  he has already asked me out for next friday.  i don't know if i should say yes or not (here is where the game part of dating comes in).  i want to take things slow, esp. since i'm not sure what i'm ready for right now.  i don't want to get too serious too fast, which is what i feel M did with me.  i don't want to look overly available (i have NO other plans next week).  i don't want him to think we are more than we are (which at this point, i feel we are friends getting to know more about each other).  this is where i over-analyze the situation.  this should be simple.

i don't want to give the wrong impression.  i also don't want to be full of drama and sound like i'm hung-up on an ex when all i am doing is trying to learn from past relationships/mistakes.  any advice for me?  i need to give him an answer about next friday.