Saying 'I love you'

Me and the boyfriend have been together a year. Thing is, we haven't said 'I love you' explicitly yet. It's kind of been insinuated by him - he's said things like 'I'd still love you even if you did that,' asked me things like 'Would you still love me if x?' and when he's being overly sloppily affectionate and I laugh at him, he'll say stuff like 'I'm just loving you.' Yet 'I love you' hasn't been said by either of us yet - and I've not even hinted I love him in actual words, though I think my actions show I do. I was unsure until just before I moved to uni, but the distance has made me realise I really do love him. But I don't want to be the first one to say it, just in case he doesn't feel the same. The time that he said 'I'd love you even if...' was about six months ago and I totally ignored what he said and just changed the subject. My friend reckons that because of how I reacted he's unlikely to ever initiate saying it again. I'm desperate to say it now, but just can't bring myself to. I'm fearful that he won't feel the same after all even though my gut feeling is that he does. Yet if he doesn't say it soon I know I'm going to start getting wound up and feel like he's never going to approach it again.