This is tough. I can't decide whether it's I love you, or whether to break it down further into I want or I need.

• I love you:
  This is scary both to say, and to hear.
  To say it requires one to be totally naked to another person. It is a stripping down of defenses. You are risking the fact that s/he may not love you back. You are risking your dignity(which you may have lost already, in which case ignore this.)
  To say this requires some sort of recklessness and abandon or maybe just intense emotion: I love you, you mean everything to me, I'm yours.
  
  To hear it is to confront a need that you don't know if you can fill. This person is entirely trusting of you and doesn't mind being defenseless. It gives you a power you don't know whether you want. It gives you a responsibility you may not be able to cope with. It makes you confront yourself and examine the sentiments beating in your breast. Or the urges that drive you. It is a moment of truth when you must either respond in kind, or figure out what it is if it's not love.
• I want/need from you
  Can you give this person what s/hewants? Will you be able to satisfy his/her desire? This includes physical, emotional, financial, etc.
  This is the hardest part of love. Needs cannot be ignored. Desires may be stifled or accomodated, but needs must be fulfilled. Can I give you what you need? And even scarier to confront: Can you give me what I need? I have just stripped bare and told you that I love you, but have I set myself up for disappointment?