I've been talking to a guy for the past month. We've gone on dates quite often, and he's always been very affectionate towards me, so much so that our last date led to intimate moments. He even shows more interest in me than I do to him, since I am naturally shy, but he doesn't seem to mind. He calls me pet names and shows affection to me in public. However, we've never actually talked about dating, even though it would seem that way since he hasn't been seeing anyone else and neither have I. Since I avoid sexual encounters with a person if we're not dating, I would like some kind of confirmation from him. I am a quite direct and upfront person (despite my shyness), so my natural reaction would be to talk to him clearly about it. Would that be the appropriate thing to do? I do not want to seem clingy, but I am also not comfortable sharing intimate moments with someone I am not dating.
If you are going out together quite often and neither of you are seeing anyone else I would say you are dating. I'm not sure what you mean by intimate moments, if you aren't comfortable with that, tell him.
Your post is very contradictory - and shy behaviour seems to be somewhat absent from your personality. And what do you mean by "intimate moments" if it's not "sexual encounters".