Hey OP, serious reply here. I see an escort fairly regularly, and I can tell you what you experienced is not unusual.
Getting intimate with someone you literally just met is harder than most people think, especially when you attach a "business transaction" element to it. You could have lost your virginity years ago and still failed to get anything going.
If you're going to hire a service provider, I would advise looking up one online. Someone who has a profile of some kind, something that will give you an idea of their personality. That way you can have a rough idea of what they'll be like in person, and you won't have to be as nervous about not clicking with them.
I'm pretty comfortable with the girl I'm seeing, but it wasn't always that way. The first few times, I had trouble keeping it up. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to perform, and that I was wasting my money, so, naturally, that anxiety prevented me from performing. It was only after we got to know each other a bit, beyond the sex, that I began to feel comfortable. Try to find someone you could see yourself having sex with even if you weren't paying them.
With that said, I feel that I should include the usual precautions.
Always use protection. Always. Every time.
Get tested. Even if you use protection, you should get tested occasionally, just to be sure.
Make sure you research the escort beforehand to be sure they aren't a cop. I don't know what the prostitution laws in England are, but be careful all the same.
Don't get too attached. You can (and should) like your escort, and they can (and hopefully) will like you, but thinking that the relationship is deeper than it actually is could hurt you.
And finally, always use protection. Seriously.
