I met a guy just before Christmas through a (male) friend and we seemed to get on well from day one. Although I didn't see him for quite some time after that we did text each other now and again.

At the beginning of this year the three of us went out again (me, the guy and the friend who introduced us) and I realised that I had feelings for him. He texted me one night to see if I wanted to go out for a drink which I did - we had a great time, went to a club and he walked me home but nothing else happened. The following night he phoned me up while he was out with some friends and told me that he liked me a lot - but he'd had quite a bit to drink by this stage. A week or so after that the three of us went out one night and I told him that I liked him. He told me that he liked me too and that night he walked me home and we sat up all night talking. We had a cuddle on the sofa but again, nothing else.

Since then we've been out a few times just the two of us and have texted a lot - he sends me little texts about funny things that have happened to him during the day.

This sounds very positive, because it shows he doesn't just want to use you for sex, he genuinely wants to take things slowly and he's making the effort to text you about random things in his life.  As if he wants you to be part of his life.

About a month ago we went out after work just the two of us and ended up in a club where he kissed me for the first time. He then walked me home and, again, we stayed up all night talking and hugging. The following day he was at a friend's stag night but phoned me to say he'd rather be out with me so we went out that night and, again, ended up kissing.

Brilliant, he really is keen on you.

Since then we've both had a lot on and have had weekends away so haven't seen too much of one another. We usually see each other once a week and the past two times we've ended up kissing. Last weekend, again, we stayed up kissing and hugging after a night out.

Another male friend has told me that he's not interested as, if he was, he'd want to see me a lot more and would have tried to have sex with me by now.

I completely disagree with your male friend.  It is a typical male point of view answer, because he is like that with women, he believes all men will be in your knickers as soon as possible if they fancy you.  Yes, he will want to have sex with you, that is pretty much guaranteed, but the more he holds back from having sex with you, the more interested he is likely to be in a long term relationship.  A guy will make the effort to see a woman more often, but that all depends on whether the woman and him have the spare time to see each other.  It also depends on his character, whether he likes to rush into a relationship of whether he likes to take things easy, it also depends on his judgement of you, is he detecting from you that you want to take things slowly.  In my opinion the bigger the rush towards sex, the less value he has towards you, if he rushes towards sex, he is more willing to take risks to lose you.  He hasn't rushed towards sex and that shows a sign that he wants to take things slowly with you and make sure things work out.  If he'd been in your knickers by now, he would probably have been rushing towards sex and not being bothered about losing you.

Admittedly we only see each other once a week at the moment but he e-mails me at work most days for no real reason (just to say hello etc) and texts me when he's not at work.

That is very good communication and shows he's thinking of you constantly.  I just think you've met somebody that could potentially be the love of your life.  At least, he feels he doesn't want to rush you into having sex, because he sees you as more than just a pair of knickers with a good parcel inside them.  To him, he's engaging you on a social and emotional level, with slight sexual activity in the form of kissing and cuddling.  He knows one day that if he plays his cards right you will be ready for sex and it will be the right time in the relationship to have sex.  None of this sex in the back alley, after a drunken nightclub outing.  He will want something special.

The fact that he hasn't tried to take things further is good on the one hand as I don't want to be just another notch on someone's bedpost but it does make me wonder whether he does like me enough to want to have a relationship.

That shouldn't even come into your mind.  The guy hasn't had sex with you, so he's not just seeing you as a sexual object.  He wants to get to know you before having sex.  If you rush into sex, the relationship typically doesn't work out.  You will see in my forums a piece written about the 12 steps in a relationship.  Have a read of that and realise, he is following them like a book, so far.  Too many women and men, think that sex should happen within the first few months of starting a relationship, because that's how things happen nowadays.  But look at the other statistic and you'll find divorce rates are at their highest.  That's because people rush into sex, as soon as you rush into sex, you can't get to know the person anymore, because you are too busy thinking about them in a sexual way, to be bothered about what their personality and interests are and whether they are compatible with you in the long term.  Don't rush things and you could build a very good relationship with this guy. 

He talks about taking me away to meet his mum and dad and,

Again he's doing things in such a positive way, he must think the world of you.  If he was embarrassed about you or dubious about what his parents might think of you, he would avoid introducing you to them.  But, no, he must see you as an essential part of his future life, to risk introducing you to his parents.

when I was away a few weeks ago, texted to say that he hated to think about me being on my own and was worried about me being alone in a strange town.

I'm just a bit confused by the mixed messages.

There are no mixed messages.  I don't see any element of mixed messages in what you have written.  This guy hopes that you are the love of his life and he's prepared to wait to shag you, in order to make sure he doesn't rush into it.  This is how a relationship should go, it's just quite funny that this should be the normal way relationships go, yet you are confused that it's not going normally.  Because to you nowadays the norm will be, meet up with guy, have sex within a few weeks of meeting up, as soon as you have sex that means he likes you.  Wrong, I bet the majority of guys in this world wouldn't mind having sex with you, if you walked up to most guys on the street and said "lets have sex", I think most would say "let's go".  It doesn't mean they like you, it means they want to have sex with you. 

I always say on this web site, there are two types of guys, the guys that want to have sex and the guys that want to have a relationship and sex.  You want a guy that wants a relationship and sex.  You can be pretty certain he wants sex, I don't know any guy in this world that doesn't, and what you can be certain about that not many other women can be certain about is this guy is hanging around despite not having sex with you, so he must see some other benefit in you, like a long term relationship.  This is one of the most positive messages I've read since starting this web site, I don't see why you are a confused.  The guy is doing everything right, if he wants to progress things towards a long term relationship.

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