I'm thinking about asking him if he's ready to be my boyfriend

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3For those who don't have time to read the prefaces, the guy I'm interested in is gay and I'm already good friends with him. He told me back in June that he wasn't ready to date, and I let it go at that time because I agreed with him after I thought about it some more. I feel like the two of us have been doing more couply things lately, which signals to me that he must having similar thought as me. We hold conversations for hours, have complementing interests/senses of humor, and don't seem to hold back with each other.I fully believe we enjoy all our time together and have more in store, but I know that work has been extra draining for both of us over the past couple weeks. We're both mindful of this, and have somehow managed to stay in even closer contact during this stressful period.I also haven't been in a relationship before, so it's been difficult for me to comprehend everything. What kind of things do you say to approach the boyfriend question? I was thinking something along the lines of "I've enjoyed everything we've done, and I like you a lot. I hope you feel the same way." And if he has a good reaction to that, I could ask if he's ready for something more.The feelings I have been having for him have been incredible, especially after our most recent dates, and if I'm truly falling in love I don't want to hide them forever.