Dating older men

Hey y’all, so I’d like some advice and I feel this is a safe space to ask for it.

So I’ll keep it short. I’m 22 and the man I’m currently speaking to is 35. We are nothing serious, we’ve never had sex. We are in the stage of simply getting to know each other.

Honestly, I don’t think we intended to like each other. We met through friends ( I’m a nurse so the age ranges vary a lot with the friends I’ve made at work) our interactions/ relationship has been completely platonic up until recently.

Long story short, I started catching feelings as we began having deeper conversation about life etc. Then one day we are speaking on the phone and he says that he does have feelings for me.. but he doesn’t want to make me uncomfortable because of the age gap. Basically he gets it if I don’t want to take things further. I do want to explore the option of us more but I’m not sure if I should outside if my emotions. He’s a good man, very respectful.. really everything I’d want he’s just older than me by 10+ years 😩