Gabrielle Union thought Dwyane Wade said 'I love you' on first date

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Gabrielle Union says she mistakenly thought her husband, Dwyane Wade, said "I love you" on their first date.

The 48-year-old actress discussed her early romance with Wade, 39, during Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Union said her love story with Wade ended up unfolding "over years."

"The first night, I swore he said 'I love you' -- perhaps there was alcohol involved," Union recalled. "At the end of the night, we embrace, definitely thought I heard him say, 'I love you.' So, I don't respond. I was like, too soon."

"The next day I was like, I don't want the weekend to be weird. So I was like, 'Hey, about what you said last night. I love you, too,'" she said.

Union said Wade denied years later that he said "I love you" first.

"But once you open the door to the 'I love yous,' it never stops," Union said.

Union and Wade married in August 2014 and have one child together, daughter Kaavia James, 2. Wade also has three children, Zaire, 19, Zaya, 14, and Xavier, 7, with previous partners.

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Union said her father and family initially didn't trust Wade because of her experience with her first husband, Chris Howard.

"When he first met Dwayne, he was like, 'What are your intentions? What do you want from my daughter?' He was like, 'Her love?' There was a lot of distrust in the beginning," she said.

Union is known for playing Mary Jane Paul on Being Mary Jane and Sydney "Syd" Burnett on L.A.'s Finest. She released the new book You Got Anything Stronger? earlier this month.