Dating : Does it seem like he likes me? How can I let him down easy?

Dating : Does it seem like he likes me? How can I let him down easy?

I am a girl and me and my friend are both in our 20’s. I’m starting to feel that he is starting to like me. We have known each other for a couple of years but we only started hanging out recently. There was a point where we would spend hours on the phone together at night but i realized that we shouldn’t do that if we’re not in a relationship because i feel that it isn’t appropriate. After the first time we hung out he expressed that he would like to hang out more often because he enjoys my company. We hung out once more but something that I noticed is that I don’t feel comfortable around him. I have no idea why this is though. I feel uneasy and I’m constantly thinking of things that we could talk about. I usually make up some excuse if he wants to hang out because I don’t want him to start liking me and then have that awkward conversation. I could be wrong about him liking me but he has told me that he doesn’t view dating as dating. He sees dating as hanging out with someone until someone wants the relationship to progress. So part of me started thinking that maybe he is hoping for that with our relationship? If we’re out together at church for example he would introduce me to all of the people that is important to him. He even invited me to a family party but I did not go because if they see him with a girl they’re going to assume that there’s something going on and I don’t want to give him or them the wrong idea.
Just a few more random things I want to add:
-If he expresses that he wants to hang out and I mention that I am hanging out with another friend he would say something like, “oh I thought we were going to hang out.”