Maybe. But you might be reading too much into his reaction. No offense, but this sounds like more of a personal quirk. Sometimes we touch hands with other people. It happens. Sometimes you accidentally touches a stranger's hand when you both reach for the same pole on the subway. You say excuse me, and move on with your life. That's what hand sanitizer is for. The fact that he's okay with accidentally touching doesn't automatically mean he wants to go steady or anything. He just doesn't think that brief physical contact is that big of a deal.
The thing to pay attention to is whether he goes out of his way to touch you. Does he touch your arm when he has something important to tell you? Did his hand linger on yours when you accidentally touched? If you notice brief touches here and there, he might be flirting. Or he just might be a bit on the hands-y side.
You're going to have step up your game here. Obsessing over whether or not a fleeting touch means anything will drive you crazy. Ask him to hang out as friends, and see what happens. Let things progress naturally. If he touches you again, accidentally or otherwise, don't flinch. You just might end up holding hands this time.
The thing to pay attention to is whether he goes out of his way to touch you. Does he touch your arm when he has something important to tell you? Did his hand linger on yours when you accidentally touched? If you notice brief touches here and there, he might be flirting. Or he just might be a bit on the hands-y side.
You're going to have step up your game here. Obsessing over whether or not a fleeting touch means anything will drive you crazy. Ask him to hang out as friends, and see what happens. Let things progress naturally. If he touches you again, accidentally or otherwise, don't flinch. You just might end up holding hands this time.
Perfect, Nick :)!
If anything, I think it means the guy's not as careful as you when it comes to touching people. Personally, I'll avoid all unnecessary human contact, so when I let people touch me, hug me, hold my hand or be near me it's because I like them and care about them enough (then again, it goes for very close friends I have no interest in too, not just guys I like).
So, back to the question at hand, Nick's advice is spot on: unless he happens to be a lot like you, it wasn't very meaningful (it's not like you held hands for more than 5 seconds, or anything). You could try to look for other nonverbal signs showing he likes you, less subtle ones. A smile while he looks at you in the eyes would be less subtle, for instance. Trying to be around you even though he doesn't need to would be less subtle. Most anything beyond that borders on "obvious".
If you're ok with him knowing you're interested, you should probably try the above and see what happens. Out in the world I think they call it flirting (not that I'd know two things about it). I believe he's supposed to either flirt back or ignore you. If he ignores you too often, move on. If he flirts back, it's game on!
Have fun, whatever you do.
It can be a tease too...letting your hands touch. I have it bad for a guy I work with. One day when handing him the phone,I purposely reached out to hand him the phone and grasped his fingers while I passed the phone over to him. It caught him off guard. He had the biggest smile on his face and the excited chuckle that came out along with it ...priceless !