I think she liked me. Is it too late to ask her out again?

Hey everyone. Back in late December (yes, we’re going back pretty far!), I (25M) matched with a girl (25) on Hinge. She was the first one I matched with since my 4 year relationship ended a few months prior. I don’t mean to sound cliché, but damn, love at first sight: we had similar interests, she was funny, kind, pretty, interested in me, and so on!

At our date in early January, everything went beyond well. Something that I remember was, about 15 minutes in, she said “next time we go out…” and I thought “yup, she’s the one!” After dinner, we went to a bar and stayed there and spoke until closing. After closing, we went to get our cars, she gave me a ride to mine, and let me warm up in her car until mine was ready… it doesn’t take 2 hours to warm up a car! (Hint: we kept talking). We would’ve kept talking, but a cop came by and told us we had to leave because we were loitering. Before I left, I had a sneaking suspicion that she liked me and *almost* kissed her. The reason I say almost is because she had a pepper spray keychain and if she wasn’t interested, you can see where I think it’s going.

We spoke a bit for the next two days until I got the “let’s be friends” text. I was heartbroken, but I wasn’t going to be sour. We still text every now and again to this day and even went out once “as friends” the week following our date and after I got home, I couldn’t help but think “does she like me?” Because she sat in my car for about an hour or so after we went out and even made a few innuendos (comedically, but still).

**Here’s where I ask for advice!**

Thanks for reading my prelude! Alright, so, simply put, 1 I’m afraid of ruining what I have and 2 I honestly don’t know how to go about asking her.

1 If I truly am “friend zoned” (I truly hope not), will a “let’s go out as *more* than friends” preposition cause her to block me out of her life?

2 Simply put, we went on a date, through a dating app, and being that I’m shy in that regard, I’ve used my only avenue to ask her out up. How can I go about this?

Thank you for any and all the help you can provide!

Edit: added our ages.