Letting him know you think he's sexy/worth it to you.

[Anonymous]

I've been talking with/seeing a guy for around a month now, and I've come to notice that he has a problem with accepting compliments from me. When I tell him he's sexy, he'll say he isn't, or when I tell him he's amazing/good-looking/smart/funny, he'll shrug my compliments off. On our first real extended stay together over a weekend, I was stroking his cheek with his thumb and, like I usually had, I told him he was sexy. When he replied with, 'No I'm not,' I listed off the things I love about his physical self, including his gorgeous eyes, great lips, beautiful nose and great cheekbones. Though he did not reject the compliment, he merely shrugged it off.

Now... I'm fairly sure this is a big confidence issue. I'm fairly positive it isn't because of our age gap (which is 16 years, he late thirties and I my early twenties,) as we've both discussed this and we both agreed that we each find the other attractive (he younger, I older,) so I'm wondering if this is just a deep-seated issue of his. I know he's got some major stressors in life, including work-related, but I'm worried that he might not see himself in the light I see him in.

I used to have self-confidence problems as well, and while I'm not over all of them, I'm not as bad as A (this guy) seems to be.

Does anyone have any tips for me? Any advice would help. And to answer a question that will probably asked, no: he's not my boyfriend. We've just been dating/talking steadily.