Are we getting more serious?

I've been dating my boyfriend for a year now, and on our 1-year anniversary, he told me that he loves me! It was the first time he's ever said it to me, and I know he hasn't said it to any other girl because I'm the only girl he's ever dated steadily (we dated for a couple of months in 2006 and got back together last summer) and he told me he's only had a couple short relationships before me. When a guy waits that long to say that he's in love with you, does it mean that he was waiting to see how he really feels and was afraid of rejection if he said it earlier? and is it a way of showing that he wants more from the relationship?