As most of you know, we guys aren’t always good at expressing our feelings. We tend to be more closed off and unwilling to tell women exactly how we feel about them, but we’re not always trying to play mind games or be difficult. There are times when a guy might feel deeply for you but won’t make a move or take the next step because he’s afraid of getting hurt. While it’s not always easy to spot this kind of situation, here are a few signs that a guy loves you but is trying to protect his heart.
- He stares at you but has nothing to say. I get it – there’s something creepy about a guy who stares at you. However, it’s one of the signs that a guy has strong feelings for you. Half the time he probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it – he just can’t help himself. He could be thinking how nuts he is about you but how he’s terrified that you’re going to reject him. This isn’t always what’s going through his head, of course, but it’s possible.
- He has a freakishly good memory. Guys tend to forget things a lot – memory is not one of our strong suits. But when you’re around a guy who seems to remember details about you, that means something. When he commits the things you say, like, do, etc. to memory, it means he’s paying close attention and may have fallen for you even though he hasn’t made things official. He could be waiting for you to make the first move because he’s afraid of getting hurt or not being good enough.
- He won’t admit his feelings. In my experience, women are far savvier than most men give them credit for. There are occasions when a woman will beat around the bush and give a guy every opportunity to come clean about his feelings, but that’s not always enough for him to tell you how he feels. This kind of vibe can be undeniable when it’s in the air. There’s something holding him back and it probably isn’t you. Often, he’s simply afraid of getting hurt and just needs a little more time to work through his feelings.
- He’s nervous as hell around you. Nerves are almost always a sign that a guy is feeling something for you. He’d have almost no other reason to be antsy in your presence if there weren’t feelings involved. If he loves you but is scared of getting hurt, that’s two good reasons for his nervousness. If you notice him getting freaked out around you a lot, he’s either hiding something or head over heels and, well, hiding that fact from you.
- He distances himself from you. Admittedly, this can be all kinds of confusing. A guy who is afraid of getting hurt by a woman will sometimes go into self-preservation mode. Even if he loves you, being around you can be difficult. The only way to cope with this is to create some distance. If you sensed he had feelings for you and then he completely falls off the surface of the planet, he might just be trying to keep himself scarce so things don’t go wrong.
- He tries to feel out where your head is at in a roundabout way. Going to someone for relationship advice is the ultimate sign of trust and respect. You don’t do that with just anyone. Unless you’re a longtime friend, it’s a good sign that a guy loves you. It means he wants to know what you think. He won’t come completely clean about his feelings for you out of fear of being rejected, but he does want to talk to you and try to see where he stands.
- He mentions a future event he’d like you there for. This one can be tricky to spot. He’ll mention you in the future tense but he won’t make it seem like you’ll be a couple. This can be a sign that he wants you in his life for the long term. Most guys don’t do that if you’re just a friend. This could mean that he loves you but is still too timid to come forward and admit it.
- He’s weirdly jealous. The thing about jealousy is that it doesn’t rear its ugly head if there are no feelings involved. If you can sense that a guy is jealous when other guys are around you, it’s clear that he has strong feelings for you. The question is why he isn’t telling you about them. If you’re routinely around other guys, he’ll worry that he doesn’t stack up to other potential suitors and will set himself up for a big letdown if he tells you how he feels.
- He’s been hurt before. If you know that your guy has been hurt before, it might explain his hesitancy to tell you that he loves you. Maybe he confided in you about how he was hurt. Surprisingly, men can get gun-shy when they’ve been heartbroken in the past. We’re human too, after all. It can make us afraid to express our feelings to anyone, at least for the foreseeable future. In fact, if he lets you know that he’s been hurt previously, he might be trying to let you know that you should take the lead.