For 5 months a co worker and I have been hanging out alone on a regular basis. For the whole time I was getting what I felt were mixed signals on how he felt towards me, we were sleeping together on occasion and he was a total gentleman about it. He would be sweet with me, but on other nights he was reserved and acted like we were JUST friends or something.

Finally recently we discussed things and he basically told me that he backed off from me because of being co workers at a company with a policy against co workers dating. He said I really can't lose my job with this company and explained his reasons, and that he doesn't want me to lose mine either.

He said he also had a plan in mind to remain single for awhile to work on himself and that his most recent relationship wasn't a very good one and he wanted time to process and get through some stuff.
He mentioned I should do the same, since I got out of a bad relationship 6 months ago.
I explained to him that I didn't plan to like him as much as I do when we started to spend time together, and that I wasn't looking for a relationship either but I am open minded to fate stepping in and I felt he was really great.

He looks at me in a special way even after our talk but he won't get too close to me physically, he tries to be very platonic now even though I know how he feels.
It hurts because what I say doesn't change his mind in any way and I've expressed that to him. He understands how I feel mostly.
Anyway... there's talk of him getting promoted and transferred to another office in the same city. No plans, nothing finalized, just an offer for him.

So, with the bit of hope that one day when we are no longer "co workers" and the fact that time will have gone by for him to process the last relationship he had...

HOW DO I HANDLE THIS AND HOW DO I ACT IN THE MEANTIME!?

How can I manage to be his friend and be happy w/out making him
Uncomfortable and w/out constantly feeling badly that I can't be with him?
I don't want to mess up my chances for later... I don't want to go away and
Avoid him... and I don't want to put myself in a situation that I'm just
Going to be hurt. We are co workers for now so I spend LOTS of time with him. Even outside of work we hang out about once a week now. It used to be more frequent before when there weren't any suspicions at work.

WHAT Can I tell myself to ease the pain, and make this more bearable?
AT work there's no issue, we get along great but when we get alone...
We both know things could happen and he tries to be reserved to prevent it now.
And I am sitting there holding back tears hoping it does...

What do I do?. (Keep in mind I cannot quit my job so that is not an option, and I cannot avoid him completely as we work together, and I would like to remain friends outside of work to keep my presence in his life for later on... so I want to know what to do BECAUSE of those things... obviously if we weren't co workers id just avoid him. But this is not an option so what can I do inside of this situation?)

You need to really listen to what he told you and back off. This is another reason workplace flings are not wise. You have to constantly see the person.
It sounds to me that for him this was a fling and his job is important to him. He does not want this to go any further. He has bowed out and you should too.
You need to be single for a while and work through some things as well.

You need to really listen to what he told you and back off. This is another reason workplace flings are not wise. You have to constantly see the person.
It sounds to me that for him this was a fling and his job is important to him. He does not want this to go any further. He has bowed out and you should too.
You need to be single for a while and work through some things as well.

Thank you for your response. However, I feel like you didn't actually read what I said. He doesn't want me to back off from him in fact he said he hopes I still want to hang out together like we have been, but that it can't go anywhere under these circumstances. So my question was... SINCE THERE IS hope for a future later on when we are no longer working in the same office, how do I act with him for now? Tips and things... how to maintain compusure when I'm hurting.

It's not a career, we're sales reps in the same store that is all. Not like we're lawyers or something major. So it's not like "his career is really important to him" or however you worded it, overall... its strictly that he doesn't want us to lose our jobs.

Feel free to reply again.

I would not worry about making him feel uncomfortable, you are the one having the feelings. There is no way this can be comfortable because you're in the same work space. You are the one who is going to be miserable. Avoid him.
If he wants to continue a relationship with you when or if he leaves, let him make the first move.