Buber and the phrase "I love you"- Katie Lamp

When we were discussing Martin Buber's "I and Thou", someone brought up the fact that they had previously heard from another teacher that "I love you" means "I love me" because most people expect the person they say this to to say it in return, and it would only be a selfless statement if one didn't expect the response in return. The phrase "I love you" puts something between the You and the I, and I found this idea really interesting because I had always conceptualized love as being selfless, that for someone to love someone else they had to be less selfish because we are told that if you love someone, you do things for them instead of for yourself. The ideas behind the phrase "I love you" that can come from Buber's writing clearly contrast with the ideas of romantic love in our culture today, and I wonder if anyone has ever examined this contradiction in depth.