Can This Be Love?

Thursday May 05, 2005 12:00 PM EDT

"Are you okay kissing me?" Cruise whispered to Holmes before embracing her for the cameras at the Donatello awards.

Chris Helgren/Reuters/Landov

Tom Cruise was not in a private mood: No sneaky backdoor entries, no eyes-to-the-ground red carpet dashes, not a single "no comment." No, as Cruise made his way through a throng of fans outside the Auditorium Conciliazione di Roma on April 29 for the David di Donatello 2005 Ceremonies – the Italian equivalent of the Oscars – he was in a mood for sharing.

He shook hands. He cuddled with a baby. He took a running jump and landed on top of a parked Fiat, where he proceeded to pump his arms in the air in excitement. All this for the lifetime achievement award he was about to receive? Not totally. Instead, Cruise was giddy over a girl: former Dawson's Creek star Katie Holmes.

When the press shouted for a shot smooching his date, he did not have to ask her twice. "She is," he told reporters, "an extraordinary woman." Asked by Extra if he was enamored, he said, "Oh, I'm more than enamored." Later he grabbed the TV camera lens with both hands, stepped in front to assure a good close-up of his grin and said, "Do you see the smile on my face?"