Over the last year I've really focused on improving not only myself but also my game and so far the results have been great. I've gotten more #'s, more make outs and more attention from girls than I have at any point in my life previously but I still can't get over the big hurdle of LMR. Going for an f-close will usually take me a couple dates (right now it's about 4-5) and each time it usually is preceded with an instance of LMR on the date or two prior. I'll give two of my most recent examples:

  1. Date #3 was at a bar near where I live (I'm outside a major city about 30 mins) so we had some drinks and food and eventually I brought her to my place for another drink and a movie. Things progress and we move to the bedroom. Making out intensifies and I get her shirt off but she stops me at her bra and tells me we should cool it a little. I say something like "I understand, I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with" and she just says "thanks for understanding, I'm just not quite there yet." She sits up on the bed and kind of goes into a fetal position, basically really cold body language. Eventually she tells me that she's not looking for a relationship and wants to see other people, I tell her that's fine since I'm doing the same (I am, not lying) and she warms back up. We start kissing again and I start escalating and go for her pants when she stops me. This happens one more time before we realize I have to take her to the train. I know I'll keep escalating until I'm told to stop and after multiple times I kind of get it into my head that it won't happen and I'll respect that but what can I do about it?

  2. Date #4 with a different girl and I tell her she should come back to my place (we were in the city at the time) and she asks if I would be ok going to her place instead. Before this I was joking that we could watch a movie and that I have a really nice couch or air mattress she could sleep on. We get to her place and the whole time there she was asking how I like my coffee and what I like for breakfast (at least letting me know she expects me to stay the night). We get into her bed and watch some netflix and eventually start making out. She's grabbing at my shirt and as I go to take it off she goes "no, can we just cuddle?" and I get off her and just lie on my back (attempting a freeze out but I'm not sure how to pull this off) and tell her "yeah, but we probably shouldn't make out or anything since I know I'll try to escalate things again." She rolls over to look at me and says "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't put you off" and I told her that it was fine and I didn't want her doing anything she didn't want to do. I was thinking of leaving but with no trains at that hour to get home and looking at a $40 cab ride home I stayed. She ended up latching on to me pretty tight throughout the night and wouldn't let go, which was nice but I didn't get exactly what I wanted.

So those both happened in the last 3 weeks and I've read about the freeze out and other topics for LMR but can't seem to figure it out. So, hopefully someone here can give me a few ideas on what I may be doing wrong.