Yup, according to my Douchelish-English dictionary, what he is saying is that he loves to flirt, but doesn't want to follow through. This doesn't have anything to do with you. You didn't "scare him off" -- he had no intention of actually following through in the first place. And I'll bet $100 that he is doing the same to others while he is doing this to you.
And if you think about it, if he's like this BEFORE even a date, do you REALLY want to invest alot of time and energy in this relationship? I doubt that his character will change, and your brief experience should be enough to let you get a feel for what this guy is about.
Relationships are hard. And I may be wrong. But I've met alot of guys who love the "chase" but not the "follow-through". And in my humble experience, these guys MAY actually follow through but their hearts are generally not in it. And I wound up getting hurt. So my personal rule was: if he was attracted to me, he'll actually SHOW it, even if he IS a guy and doesn't think like a woman. What I mean is this: I THOUGHT I was dating a great guy -- athletic, hockey player, handsome, funny, but who only called me and followed through with plans at his convenience. I met my DH after dating the hockey player for 2 months. My DH wasn't my "type" but was really nice, polite, and as friends (we all hung out in the same group) was actually concerned about what I thought and felt. Well, one weekend I was waiting around for hockey player to call because the week previous he said that we should go out Saturday night. I was still waiting on SATURDAY for the plans....future DH called and asked me if I wanted to go for a bike ride. DH showed up, the phone rang on our way out, I thought it was hockey player calling, but future DH said that IF IT WAS IMPORTANT WHOMEVER WOULD CALL BACK, so I didn't run to the phone. Well, future DH and I had a great bike ride. And hockey player never called back. In fact, he avoided me for the next week. The next time I saw hockey player, he was with another girl and I found out that he had been seeing HER for the entire time we were "together" -- he just went out with whomever was available at the time and since I hadn't answered the phone, it was my own "fault" for not going out with him on Saturday night...we never even really "broke up", either. Things just sort of ended...
Result - I have a great, GREAT DH. And hockey player? No idea what happened...
Kira
Chin up! You gotta kiss alot of frogs before you find your prince.