Sep 3, 2010 15:00 GMT  ·  By

Kat Von D and Jesse James are putting all matters of the past and focusing on their budding romance. The tatted-up couple made their first appearance on the red carpet – and spoke of nothing but love.

The celebrity tattoo artist has said before, shortly before word that she was dating James got out, that she didn’t plan on letting his past interfere in her relationship with him.

Clearly, she’s determined to stay true to her word. Luckily, she’s in love with James and he feels the same way about her, People writes, so it’s not hard to turn a blind eye to his past transgressions.

After posing for pictures at the opening of Kat’s Wonderland gallery in West Hollywood, the couple gracefully took questions from the media, repeatedly stressing they were head over heels in love.

“Jesse is only my ninth boyfriend. I don’t hang out with anybody unless I am in love,” Kat said. Not only is she in love, but she’s also convinced this is the real deal.

Asked if she thought Jesse James could be “the one” for her, Kat didn’t hesitate in replying “I believe he is, so yeah,” People writes.

As for how they met, the tattoo artist said, “Was it when we were playing Scrabble? I don’t remember. But it was something like that – when we both realized how nerdy we were.”

Of course, given James’ highly mediated divorce from Sandra Bullock and the cheating scandal that led to it, a question about it was bound to pop up.

Kat played it cool, though, stressing what she’d already said before: she wasn’t going to let the past dictate what she felt or thought of Jesse, she wanted to find that out for herself.

“I stayed away from that as much as possible, and when we connected recently, it was such a positive thing,” she said of the drama in Jesse’s life these past few months.

“It was just like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t spent this much time with you the entire time I’ve known you.’ Now I’m just embracing it and enjoying it,” Kat added.

As People also notes, Jesse James was less talkative, though he did agree to smile for pictures. Asked if he was happy, he replied with a simple “Yes.”