Why can't he just tell me he wants me?

I’ve been known this guy since freshman year and I’ve had such a crush on him. He dated a friend of mine last year, but she broke up with him. It’s junior year now, and we’ve started talking. I finally decided to confess that I liked him…actually I made him guess, he just said “Oh. That’s cool. I feel smexy now.” Later, I told him that I’d never ask him out, because I feel like it’s his place as a guy. He told me that he wouldn’t, because we were friends. I believe him too. He went on to explain that my friend he dated where friends and now they don’t even speak. He told me that he didn’t want to loose me, ever. He’s a virgin, but he keeps telling me that he wants to sleep with me. That he thinks I’m sexually attractive, and he loves my bum. I don’t just want to be some kind of friend that lets him get in my pants. I want an actual boyfriend. He told my bestfriend that he ‘really really likes me’, but he keeps holding the friend card. I don’t know how to tell him how I feel. We’re both kinda inexperienced when it comes these things. I know he wants to be with me, but not the way I want to be with him. Why can’t he just tell me exactly why dating me would be so horrible? Sleeping with him could just as easily destroy our friendship, right?