What would be the reason why someone stopped touching me?

[Anonymous]

So this guy and I are friends... and coworkers. He has become very physically affectionate and comfortable with me 6 months ago and it continued being so till maybe a month ago.

Everything started with small accidental hand touches and finished with shoulder massages, hugs from behind, hand holding, etc.

I don't what was on his mind, but this and our very, very long phone conversations lead me to the point where I think I fell hard for him. I never shared my feelings, but I think he knows about them, cause he sort of tried asking me out and was and still is flirting with me.

Anyway... he is very stressed at work right now. Don't know if that's the reason, but he stopped with the hugs and everything else. Sometime I would get a pat on the shoulder and that's it.

We still touch hands/fingers accidentally, he is leaning onto me and standing close, but I miss the physical closeness, which we used to have.

I don't know what happened but his behavior makes me confused. He even asked for nudes a couple of days ago. Which made me "whoa"... and talked about taking me about for dinner, but I felt like it's just a small talk.

[quaranta]

At first sight I would think about 2 scenarios: one is he might be married or in a relationship, and you're not the only one, and he got caught and had an argument about this "other woman" (you) so now he feels like it's wrong and that he cheated on her, so he refrains himself and hates the situation; another scenario is he thought you were going to accept his dating and sex requests but you didn't and so he thought you are just leading him on and are not serious with him, taking it more casually. 6 months sounds like a lot, afterall, to not do really anything, if both of you are attracted on each other. And he may be dating someone else during all this time, or someone might have confessed to him, somewhere, so he is now confused.
If the case is the first one you should avoid him because you'd be spending energies to get together with a proven cheater and that is a really really bad choice (who does want a cheater for themselves?); while if the case is the second, you should have a honest talk with him and understand what he wants, and confessing your feelings and your confusion as well. You may do that by asking him out, not waiting him to do that for you. If he refuses, that would be an excuse to ask for clarification because his signals are mixed and you are legit confused, and, rightfully, want to know how things are on his side.
Other scenarios that are not dependent on you: someone at work caught him flirting with you and told him to focus more on his productivity, so he is refrained now in general, to not be tempted to indulge too much; or maybe he is just stressed at work or has some other issue going on at home (money issue or whatnot) and that turns him off in general because he is not in the mood to flirt with anyone. Anxiety turns off people's libido afterall.

[Asker]

He doesn't have another woman (at least not officially, but I'm not dismissing the possibility that I'm not the only one he is talking to though).
As for the second option... I'm not really keen to ask him out, cause I believe that if he wanted, he would have done it. And therefore I don't want to be the "needy" one. I'm confused about his actions.
One time he is hot, next time he is cold. We talked last night and he seemed to be in the "loving" mood. He talked about his day... etc. Once it is "us".. then strongly "me". I didn't ask because I was afraid of the answer. Maybe I'm afraid that it was all in my head.

[quaranta]

I see but if in 6 months you got nowhere with him, it's probably time to change strategy and be more participative than still waiting more and more. And he might be insecure the same about that. Also, while you are right that he could have asked you out already, asking someone out is not always "needy" (would he sound needy to you if he did that last night?), if you ask it with confidence and serenity with no signs of distress or insecurity, it will seem like something casual that you aren't making a big deal of, but that you just know what you want (unless you are needy already, in that case he would know what's behind already...), and confidence from a girl is usually attractive. Again, if he refuses, he owes you an explanation after all these mixed signals so that would be an excuse to clarify it. Or you could just ask him to clarify already without asking him out first. 6 months is a lot, you would be right in asking him how things are (you would be even in just 2 months, in fact), and aside from justice it would let you stop overthinking and spending emotive energy in the void.
But consider that 6 months are a lot and he might be talking with other girls at some point, who could be less indecisive and respond to his initiatives or even ask him out themselves. If you want him, you should try to put more effort in getting him, before it's too late.

[Guy13]

He never closed the deal with a date. Reassurance. Tell him fun things. I’ve skating bowling day time dates.

[Zandoval]

Well... did you send nudes?

[Asker]

Nope. I won't till I'm sure about his aim.

[Zandoval]

Well ask him to be clear about what he wants.

[Anonymous]

Did you had sex with him?

[Asker]

Nope, but he sort of asked about it.

[Opinion Owner]

Start with giving him blowjob...
Otherwise he will lost interest in you...