What is the difference of "I love you" and "I am in love with" you in a intimate relationship. When you first meet someone and hit it off, I believe it is infactuation. Reading up on it, that can last up to 2 years. He tells me that it is love. Now that was love not " in love with ". He mistrusts me if a situation comes up because of his baggage. This is not love to me. Are women more up to be in love and men on the line of just "I love you". So, what do you say to that special someone when you feel not the I love you but the I am in Love with you? Then again, it could be infactuation:)

Someone once told me that she and her husband had been a relationship for some "X" amount of years and that they were happier and more comfortable than ever, to me is seemed like they were in love.
So, yes infatuation is something we experience and it may be a misconception that it is the height of a relationship.
On the other hand love can be a form of codependency.