I think I've got it. Online escalation works best when it feels like a shared bit slowly getting more intimate, not like a guy suddenly yanking the conversation into sexual territory. You want her thinking, “Oh, this is getting dangerous,” not “Where the hell did that come from?”
There are a lot of moves a guy can make in person while flirting that don’t really translate online. No eye contact, no body language, no lingering pause, no playful touch.
So what do you guys do instead to escalate tension and energy over text without making it feel forced?