It's like I always say every time this topic comes up, I have ladies I'm quite fond of and who I like to think enjoy my company, as well as retired ladies I miss, but at the end of the day, I'm realistic about the nature of our relationship.
I've said several versions of the following in the strip club forum over the years, but it applies to a person's relationship with all sex workers: What most of us ultimately have with our preferred providers are friendly transactional relationships. Most of our lives are filled with friendly tranactional relationships of various types. That doesn't make them not 'real', but ultimately they are what they are.
I think sexual contact, and often a lack of relationship experience (sometimes combined with the odd sex worker hustling a guy), gets things mixed up in some clients' heads. I like it when I actually like a provider I see. I like to think that I am at least likeable in return. After that I tend to chalk everything else up to participating in a friendly transactional relationship and keep things professional, even on the very odd occasion where there may have been a faint glimmer of something more.
If you're feeling brave, and don't mind the potential of messing up something good, then you can try to transition that relationship 'something more'. I'm not going to say that it never works, but this board is filled with horror stories and bitter guys who tried just that. Assuming you don't blow up a perfectly good transactional relationship I'd strongly suggest not blowing up your life, clear and firm boundaries, and legally covering your ass.