But he knew that wasn’t true, knew that he could never square the circle that was the Kremlin and Catherine, Catherine and his interest in men. In loving her, he could not betray the Motherland any more than he could be betray himself. How could he? Catherine would no doubt despise him if she knew the truth of what he was. But neither could he betray her to the Motherland. No, the president was on his own, and he was welcome to it. Part of Dimi—a large part of him—hoped the president would just die, clearing the path for him and Catherine to enjoy whatever it was they had, along with his tennis career. For both their sakes, Dimi would try to have it all, but when had that ever worked?
It was far easier to pull off the tricky double of winning the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, Dim
