new to the dating scene and made a big mistake

I am new to the dating scene after a long time not dating and I made a big mistake right off the bat with a man I wanted to date. I would like to know if there is any way to rectify this.

A man I was interested in and I think was very interested in me ask me out for a Saturday night 2 weeks ago. This is a man I recently met and we have a few mutual friends. I found him to be a very eligible bachelor, but really didn't know that much about his present personal life.

He asked me out on a Friday(2 weeks ago) for the following Saturday, and told me he was going to the Bahamas with his 34 year old daughter on that Sunday. I didn't know what to think and wondered if he was telling the truth.

While he was gone someone told me they thought that he was dating someone and I thought,"Uh oh, I don't want to be involved with this." I know now that I should have asked him if he was involved with someone first before I did what I did, but it is too late for that now. Plus, I didn't feel like I had the right to ask him this being as I had just met him! But I was afraid to go out with him thinking I would get hurt(i.e. he could be a player).

So I sent him an email while he was gone(we email a lot)saying that Saturday night would not work out for me.
When he got back in town he called and said "What
is the problem?" I stated I thought he might be dating someone and I thought it wouldn't be in my interest to date him. He denied it and I didn't know what to believe. People don't always tell the truth! I asked him several more times if he was sure, and he got visibly upset and said he had to catch his breath, that he wasn't accustomed to being treated like this.

We talked again that day, I apologized, and the date was on again.

Then he got defensive and started shooting me emails from some of his friends while he was in the Bahamas asking if he and his daughter were having fun. He was trying to prove to me that he was with his daughter. But I had already believed it and had forgotten about it. Obviously he had not!

The next morning he sent me an email saying that he was sorry that he thought it was in his best interest not to go out on Saturday because he thought he might get hurt if I could just break a date like that without asking him first or finding out the truth. I feel like I am in high school with this nonsense!!

He said he wanted to take a break for a few weeks and see what the future might bring. Is this the total brush off?

I have called once more to apologize, he was in the middle of his work day and said "Let's do it the 'old school' way and let the boys call the girls." He said it in a nice tone, but it sounds like he is having a hard time forgiving me.

I certainly will not contact him at this point. He wants to be the one to contact me and that's the way it should be I guess. But I have never heard of a man having such a hard time getting over something like this. He is a very successful businessman as I am a woman, and I think no one ever turns him down. But I really did like him and thought he had a great sense of humor and I had been shown all of the signs that he was really interested in me.

I hate that this has gone so bad. Is there anything I can do? Do you think he will call again? I friend of said that if I could get him laughing again, that all of this would go away. She said maybe to send him a funny poem in about 2 weeks. What do you think? It's probably the kiss of death to ever contact him again, isn't it?

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