How to go about very shy guys..

I met a wonderful guy online about 4 years ago and we hit it off straight away. We were pen-palling, mailing each other little gifts, skyping and facebooking. Though he never directly said, "I really like you/I have feelings for you", he's said basically that in many words, and the things he talks about with me. I noticed he's a bit shy and doesn't blurt out his emotions.
Anyway, this year I moved to Moscow to do my masters and He'd moved there 2 years earlier for work. We talked about how cool it would be to finally meet especially since we never thought we'd actually ever meet! I know some people who form connections with people online all the time and just never get the chance to see them. We would mildly flirt, nothing dirty and he would say that he believes in signs - like my moving to the same town he's in, and that I wore a gold ring on my right ring finger (which is the finger one wears a wedding ring in Russia).
So I get to Moscow and though he's a cool guy I realised just how shy he is! But I notice that he loves compliments and that they really mean a lot to him. I've figured that if I say something sort of shocking to him like, "I like the way your ass looks in those pants." , it jolts him and gets such a big reaction because he's so shy.

About a week and a half after, we slept together and it was kind of clumsy and self conscious - or at least from my end. I was still just so much in shock and disbelief that I was finally with him and ACTUALLY IN HIS BED RIGHT THIS MOMENT!! It was wonderful though and I have no regrets it happened. At the time, I thought that this would be more of a meaningful intimate connection since we had 4 years behind us. I thought we'd kinda just slip into a relationship. But alas, it didn't turn out that way. I see now, that we probably should have waited a little longer. He got a little quiet and then started meeting up again. But no kissing or hand holding....the tension is there though..to do or behave relationship-like but I feel like he's holding back. And it's not healthy for me because that vibe rubs off on me too and makes me self-conscious and be a little awkward. We've had maybe 4 outtings together since then and they've all been the same... sheepish smiles and awkward hand bumping...awkward goodbyes... last time he just grabbed and squeezed me tight and gave me a kiss on the cheek and was off I don't think he's gotten to see the "real" me all because he's not relaxed. Or maybe he's feeding off of me - I dunno.

Last weekend was his birthday and he invited me to do karaoke with his 2 best friends and colleagues (some with wives and girlfriends). I had such a blast and saw that his friends love me. They kind of would make little gestures or give little nudges so I guess they know something. I didn't sit next to him on purpose cos I wanted to meet new people and maybe get him to be curious about me or what I was talking about. It probably worked because he'd come over to pour me more wine and say little things like I looked very fine, and that he loved my hair. And everytime he walked over to the karaoke desk, he'd walk passed behind me and run his fingers in my hair or play with my bun when I tied it up. When it came time to sing, I saw his shyness come out again. His eyes darting around to see who's watching, his neck vein looking like its about to pop out. You know what a shy person who's forcing themselves to be a different way looks like Later, he motioned for me to sit next to him. I went over and he introduced me to a lady nearby so we could chat. While I spoke to her, he started playing with my earring with this friends sitting on his other side in a kind of a huddle. And when I asked him if he was having a good time, he said he was because I was there with them.

He definitely seems happier with his friends around and showed lots more affection then. Though still with elements of shyness.

I'm aware he likes me, but still I'm not feeling very secure in exactly where it is he stands. How do I get it out of him without making him curl up in a corner? And how might I get him to relax more? Something interesting he mentioned on one of our dates was that he was now ready for marriage. When we were getting to know each other years before, he'd said he wasn't - so I hadn't actually realised that that has changed. I have to say that got me really excited for some reason. I feel like he's looking out for someone he could potentially marry now. He's a lot of what I'm looking for and I'd like to continue exploring that with him but first we need to get past all this silly awkwardness.. Any ideas? Am I over analysing? Or should I just give it time and hope he eases up naturally? I'm 25, will be 26 in Sept and he just turned 27. I'm African and he's Slavic. He's almost fluent in English but still has a few issues sometimes when trying to say complicated stuff. English is my native tongue. I don't believe race is an issue here though just by the way. I've seen enough from him and his crowd to understand that it's not a factor.

Ok hope to hear from someone I'm not freaking out, I'm only wondering