play hard to get
To pretend to be inaccessible or uninterested, as when flirting

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

play hard to get
[informal]
to pretend that you are less interested in someone than you really are as a way of making them more interested in you, especially at the start of a romantic relationship.
Why don't you return any of his calls? Are you playing hard to get?
(often in continuous tenses)

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

play hard to get
to be coy and shy
The young woman was playing hard to get but actually she wanted to go on a date with the young man.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

play hard to get
v. phr. To act as if one weren't interested; be fickle; be coy.
"Professor Brown is playing very hard to get," our dean said, "but I know he will accept our offer and come to teach here."

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲