ElenaBelle

You can still count season 3. I took 3x01 to be the first moment she acknowledged that could see herself with Damon romantically. However, she loved Stefan very deeply and if she would have probably stayed with him if her life hadn't turned upside down when she died and became a vampire. I don't know if them saying that she loved Damon and not that she was in love with Damon was deliberate to show some kind of difference in how deep her feelings were. It could be.