Why I'm scared to say, "I love you."

Hi everyone! I'll keep this as short as possible. So, I met this guy when I was a student at university. He works there (not a professor), I was a senior when I first met him. Funny because we met through Grindr about a year ago, and I thought, "Oh, God. Another guy asking me XX things." But we actually ended up having a nice chat about life. And while I was taking the train home, he noticed me and struck up a conversation and began commuting together.We never hooked up. It was purely platonic friendship, and I think it was because I didn't know what I wanted then. We grabbed drinks on campus every now and then, etc. Close to graduation, we stopped chatting for awhile, partly because I was so consumed with finals and finishing my year strong. I stopped dating altogether as well, and just put that on the back-burner.Once I graduated and started working, I began thinking of him. It was strange because I didn't think of him in a romantic way before, but I just allowed myself to feel romantic and attracted to him. We get along really well, we finish each other's sentences and laugh really hard, I understand and respect each other's perspective, we vent to each other, etc. We began chatting again and decided to catch up a couple months ago. We've been seeing each other at least once a week when our busy schedule opens up, we text each other every day to see how our day is going, and we call each other.We've gone on several dates and I was so nervous to kiss him. But I wanted to so badly. It's weird because I typically don't get scared about that stuff, but MAN...I was nervous. I'd get hard instantly, my speech was rapid because I talk a lot when I get nervous, and I would stop myself from doing it. Eventually, he ended up kissing me, and it was just great. We haven't done anything more, and I like how it's going. I respect him and I don't expect sex at all. We don't feel pressure to put a label on our relationship.I'm pretty sure I love him. I don't think I've felt this way before. Whenever I don't hear back from him, I get annoyed/worried, and I'm always doing things to keep myself busy from getting too idealistic. I just want to cuddle and fall asleep together. I just want to kiss him every time I see him. I just feel like I could be myself around him...my true self. I really want to tell him this, but I'm so chicken sh*t!!!! Like, should I do this over a fancy dinner, or while we're sitting on the couch, I don't know! Can anyone help me?!