initiating sex when your shy

so it’s been a while since we last had sex, at least a month, and my boyfriend and i were talking about it recently and all he really said was that i have to initiate it sometimes too so i think he’s been holding off because he wants me to be more upfront about it. it’s not like i don’t want to, i do, i’ve just always felt awkward about saying i want to have sex. a lot of the times what i would do is sleep in my underwear or wear super short shorts without underwear and try rubbing my butt on him or something like that, but he wants me to be a little more clear, and just going “i wanna have sex” works but i don’t really know how to be sexier about it cause as much as i enjoy it i’m not that sexual and i’ve never really seen myself as sexy, so being the initiator feels weird.