If you are comfortable enough with each other's company to be ready to have each other in your respective homes, it is perfectly appropriate to "arrange" for him to come into yours or for you to suggest a reason to be in his. A cup of coffee or a "nightcap" at the end of one of your meetings is pretty non-threatening, and perfectly prim and proper in most local cultures today.

My experience and observation is that a fair percentage of men expect, and will wait for, a fairly explicit indication that "she" is ready for any step to a new level of intimacy. For many men, especially older children like yours, it's almost mandatory that the woman take the lead to move beyond "casual friendship." (We can be pretty dense - and easily frightened about "pushing" relationships.)

Obviously if the man is interested, he may not wait forever. If he's not interested in the level of intimacy you want, you should find out before you spend a lot of time "just hoping."

To find out if you both are ready for something "more intimate" you may need to be together where intimacy is appropriate - understanding that even where the situation allows it, it's not mandatory and either of you should be free to decline any offer.

LiK used the subtle ploy of inquiring about the software I had on my home computer and asked to see it. (Asking to inspect his software might not be the best approach if he doesn't have a computer.)

Once at my apartment, LiK was extremely subtle and coy, when she asked:

"Why are we standing around with all our clothes on?"

Being a very clever young fellow, then of about the age of your friend, I suppressed the reply "I like to keep the heat low to save on fuel costs," and detected a "clue" here. Our relationship progressed quite nicely thereafter.

I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you borrowed her line, although I've heard others that might have worked about the same. (She was, at the time, a bit younger than you, so an age-appropriate adjustment in details might be in order.)

Of course a couple can discuss being more intimate in a setting where it's inappropriate to be more intimate; but it's often best to have a proper place in mind and available so that you can proceed without undue delay if the discussion leads toward something more.

Being in a place where intimacy could be appropriate doesn't mean it's required, so there is no real reason not to have the discussion at home (yours or his), if you're comfortable with it and circumstances permit.

While the guys often are the ones who ask for the first "meeting," even that isn't really a "standard practice" any longer. Some men might prefer to "make the arrangements" for a first meeting; but it's quite appropriate and widely accepted for the woman at least to say "Give me a call so we can get together sometime?" to initiate something. It's also considered quite appropriate for a woman to ask a possibly compatible male to "be my escort" for an appropriate event, as a way of getting a first meeting. (Even these openings don't always produce a desired result, but doing nothing almost never gets you where you want to go.)

John