Tension is not always a bad thing. At least when you recognize that it is the same as arousal, and arousal is a neutral thing simply meaning that you have someone's attention.
On one end of the spectrum, allowing it to build too high becomes anxiety-ridden and uncomfortable, and letting it be too loose - too slow - causes it to fall flat and not be very interesting.
The perfect complement to a gift for creating tension with a woman, is the gift of humor - and the knowledge that there are exactly four main types of it.