I'm 23 and my partner is 32, and we've been going out for nearly 5 months. Prior to our relationship, he had dated and had flings, but between several years of college, his career focus, moving city for a job opportunity and doing some international travel during his 20's, he never found the right woman and told me he hasn't had a relationship that lasted more than 2 months. He's not a 'player' type, so when he told me this - on one of our first dates - I was surprised. It made me treat the relationship 'at arms length' at first, in case things didn't work out like his other relationships, but as time went by, I could see he was more and more serious about me.

Things are going well, and our relationship has a lot of promising signs such as:
- He's respectful of my sexual boundaries. I like to wait several months before consummating a relationship and he hasn't pressured me at all. We've been intimate, but haven't had full intercourse and he's been amazingly understanding.
- We're conflict free. We never fight or argue about anything.
- We make time for each other, even though we both have busy careers. He works an evening shift, while I do standard business hours, so it's difficult to get time together but he makes an AMAZING effort. He only gets one weekend night free and he never bails on me to go out with the guys or anything. If he's invited to another function or something on that night, he'll always invite me with him.
- I've met his family and he's met mine, and in both cases, the meeting went great and everything was friendly and positive.
- He's interested in my work and my hobbies, and enjoys being included in events in my life.
- He's introduced me to his friends and co-workers, and vice versa.
- He puts a effort into our relationship - from picking a sweet, thoughtful card and gift at Christmas, to planning most of our dates.
- He's invited me away on holiday with him.
- He's a great 'husband material' man - good job, well-educated, lovely family, reliable, sensible, mature, reasonably attractive (not model material, but nice looking).
- We had a good, non-awkward transition from dating to being in a relationship. Going 'Facebook official' etcera didn't lead to a pull back/freak out phase from either of us.

He's in a settling down phase of his life, and I feel he is wanting this relationship to be serious/long-term. He's finished his college studies years ago, he's done his overseas travelling, he's settled into a good job with a solid career path and he's been talking about buying a property.

Anyway, he's been hinting at wanting something more serious, but I have a feeling he's waiting on me to give him an indication that I'm ready for it.

I love him and would like a serious, long-term future with him - you know, marriage and a home together and so on - and I feel he is wanting the same. How should I talk to him and show him that I'm serious without making it too intense??