That's smart
@BackInTheGame78 because its a soft cue from you to see if she's receptive. Its an invitation in a way.
She has to indicate acceptance of that invitation and if she does (as you point out) voila, next you are kissing the girl.
These are the things where men fail. There are lots of ways to screw it up, however as you know, even from that point.
Let me search around and see if I can find a post I made some years ago about the skill involved in kissing, and what some awful types of kisses that will turn a woman right off.....