I've been seeing my boyfriend for 2 months. We got serious and exclusive quite fast. From the get-go, we were both extremely comfortable with each other. BUT we both ended very long term relationsips within the last year. I'm his first reationship since his split. We're both mid/late 20s.
Recently, he started confessing his love (and I have zero doubt he really believes it). He's always met with silence or the gentlest "I'm not ready for this" I can muster. When he gets like this, I almost feel smothered. It's not so much the length of the relationship - I'm a firm believer that when something's right it's just right - but that he gets so intense about his emotions. For example, he gets very flustered if I don't open up about life issues that have me down. I don't tend to open up, and he seems to be hurt by what he perceives to be mistrust. Yes, we've discussed it and the underlying issues, but it's almost like he thinks if I just trusted him MORE none of this would be a problem.
Back on topic, I've been tempted to return the "I love you" but can't bring myself to say it. I really feel "in love" but worry I'm confusing it with "in glow."
Sooo I'm not entirely sure what my question is. How badly am I hurting him by replying with silence? Why is he going this far emotionally this quickly? When we started sleeping together, about 3 weeks in, we had a very clear understanding that this was a casual, fun-until-not-fun relationship, and we'd see where it led. Is he just clingy or...what? I'm confused (obviously!) so please, someone offer some sense of this. :-)