i think from your last post that you know deep down you will only ever be friends with this man, you said you told him via email how you felt about him, then backed off instead of pushing it further, the poor bloke must be so confused when it comes down to making a decision has to whether you want things to go further or not so has decided on the "lets be friends" route to be on the safe side,

if you want to keep him has a friend i would suggest you stop with the flirtatious behavior (see pajamas), and dont ever use the word commitment in regards to the friendship both of you have