Impossible.

So I thought I was seeing this guy for about 8 months. He used to see me about once a week. We have a lot of fun together and definitely seem to click. Sometimes I feel like he’s letting me in - like when he tells me about his family when he was growing up. Other times he shuts me out - no contact for a day or two cause he says that he is so called busy with work, or he’ll tell me about parties he goes to but rarely invites me along. He admits to compartmentalizing his life.
Since I know how much he values his independence and tends to shy away from change, I hadn’t brought up the "state of affairs" talk in the past…hoping things would evolve naturally on their own. I also know he likes to move slowly but I guess I hit my limit this weekend and told him how I’ve been feeling. I said I would like to get closer and know where he sees this going. He told me that he’s not emotionally in a place in his life for a serious relationship (due to ex baggage, etc), but he really cares for me and would like to keep seeing me. He admitted that he didn’t know where he’d be in the future, but right now, this is all he has to give. He said he knows I deserve to have what I want and that I had a right to walk away but he doesn’t want me to.
I really do care about him and he’s the first guy in a long time i can see myself with…if he actually let me in, that is. I don’t want to lose him but I’m not sure that I can be satisfied having a superficial relationship with him. I don’t have to be his girlfriend right now but I at least want to know that we’re progressing and the possibility is there rather than just heading blindly for a dead end that will leave me even more hurt. Is it silly to hold on to this and hope that one day his feeling will be strong enough change his mind or am I just setting myself up for heartbreak?