Be friends with a guy you're really crushing on?

First time poster on here. Just to give you guys some background on me: I'm 31, my partner of 7 years passed away last summer, and I've been looking at dating again.So I started talking to this guy on A4A just about 3 weeks ago. He's a couple of years younger than me, smart, and gorgeous. He's planning on moving to my city pretty soon. His last relationship ended a few months ago and he just needs a change of job, city, etc.We really hit it off chatting and eventually started texting all day every day. Seeing his texts pop up on my phone would just light me up. After texting all day we'd eventually say goodnight to each other. I was really crushing on him. He lifted me up from a rot and inspired me to get back to running miles every day.He was in town last weekend and we met up for coffee. I guess I let him down or something because his texts just weren't the same after that night. I ended up liking him even more though.This whole week he sent me good morning texts and I thought that was really sweet and maybe I just read too much into our coffee meetup. So last night I asked him out to dinner next time he's in town. He says he's down for a "bite" but only if I'm asking as a friend.I text him back "No I'm not asking as a friend"I haven't heard back from him since. I don't regret asking him out on an official date. I guess I'd rather lose him as a friend than open myself up to being hurt later on. I guess the bridge is burning now and it hurts.What do you guys think? Should I just move on or keep quiet for a couple of days and reach out to him?