Don't Move Your Desk: Chapter Twenty-Six

In which Keaton didn't even bother to bring a coffee

Sep 28, 2024

A summary for you on what to expect in this edition in case you want to scroll down to the interesting bits: paperback release; new podcast; Chapter Twenty-Six of Don’t Move Your Desk; and the progress report with an update on my week-on-week sales and writing progress.

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Housekeeping time: Don’t Move Your Desk (aka the very book you are currently reading here) is now available in paperback! If you want to grab your copy and read the ending without having to wait until the end (aka November 9th) then you can buy it on Amazon now.

If you’ve picked up your copy already or will do so soon, please leave a review! Reviews are incredibly helpful for boosting sales. It takes around 50 reviews minimum and a rating of 4.2 or above, in my experience, to get a BookBub Featured Deal, and as we’ve covered here extensively, those deals are game changers for author earnings.

Also, and this is sort of an announcement that I don’t want to make because I’m a little shy about it: I kind of maybe started a new podcast. When I say kind of maybe, it’s because it’s quite likely that the 31-episode run I have already recorded and scheduled to go live will be the only 31 episodes. It would take financial inducement to go further - it’s been fun to work on, but very time-consuming. I conceived it as a special daily October listen, with short but chilling episodes based around notices of death in newspapers from the 1800s. You can listen to it here starting on October 1st, and you can follow the podcast now to get all the updates as they come out.

I came up with this podcast idea years ago - in late 2019. Then, er, 2020 happened and it didn’t feel very respectful as a concept. I don’t think anyone needed a memento mori back then. The full vision was to do a whole year with one quick episode every day, each covering three death notices, but there’s just no possible universe in which I have time for that unless it gets picked up by a network or a big sponsor willing to pay for the hours of creation. So, consider this my one shot, a Halloween special. It was the kind of idea that wouldn’t let go of me until I at least gave it that shot.

Alright - no more of this - I want to see your reactions to this next chapter, so let’s get on with it!

As a quick reminder: this chapter will go behind the paywall 60 days after publication. Don’t miss the chance to read the next chapter for free by subscribing for email updates!

Olly

Keaton finally walked back into the office an hour after I’d sent him away. He knew the order was a façade as much as I did. He wasn’t even holding a cup of coffee.

“Sir?” he said hesitantly. He was framed in my doorway. I could see he was shaking slightly. He looked miserable.

I sighed. “Sit down,” I said and pointed to his desk. “I’ve had to answer my own phone twice.”

He bit back a tremulous smile. “That sounds awful,” he said. He closed the doors and walked over to his desk but still hesitated before sitting down. He turned back to me. “I… I’m sorry. I should have come clean sooner. Actually, I shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

I paused. I had watched all the footage he’d gathered. It wasn’t bad work. The angles were good even for someone trying to film without being spotted.

I stood up and moved around to lean against the front of my desk. Only a few feet separated us.

“I should fire you,” I said. It was the truth. I would have already made the decision if it was anyone else. Ace would already have refreshed our usual job listing. I wouldn’t have hesitated.

But Keaton wasn’t like anyone else.

“But…?” Keaton asked. He was still shaking. “I feel like you were about to say a ‘but’.”

“But I don’t want to,” I said honestly.

We stared at each other for a long moment.

Keaton opened his mouth. “Why?” he whispered.

I looked down – but that only meant my gaze dropped over his body. Not my intention. I cleared my throat. “Do you actually want this job?” I asked.

“Yes!” Keaton exclaimed. “Yes, more than anything. I really meant what I said. As soon as I realized I wanted the job more than I wanted to sell the footage, I just stopped. And I know this wasn’t what I always dreamed of doing, but I enjoy it. I enjoy working with you a lot, and organizing things, and dealing with people for you, and all the rest of it – I really like it.”

I nodded. I could sense it. I held up a hand so he would stop. It seemed like he would talk forever if he thought it would get him the job a little longer. Like filibustering until the end of the working day so I would have to wait until tomorrow to fire him.

“I’m not happy about what you did,” I told him.

Keaton’s face fell into utter misery. It took everything in me not to step forward and cup his face in my hands and kiss his forehead. I wanted to tell him everything would be okay. I had to wait just a little longer.

“I’m sorry,” Keaton said. His voice was a strangled sob. “I just – I had this stupid idea that I was going to make something more of myself. That I was going to get all this footage and everyone would think I was amazing. I didn’t even think it through properly. I should have known you were never going to thank me for filming stuff with a secret camera – I didn’t even think if there were going to be any legal issues or anything like that – I was so stupid. So stupid! I just didn’t think I was going to like this job so much – I didn’t think it was going to matter if you fired me, but – please… don’t fire me…”

“Alright,” I said and held my hands up. I didn’t like the way he looked. I wanted to do anything possible to put a smile back on his face. To see him flush pink with pleasure and not be on the verge of tears.

“Alright?” he asked. He looked up at me with hope. His eyes were shining under the weight of unshed liquid but blazing with possibility.

I hadn’t meant it that way. I’d just wanted him to stop talking for a minute. But…

“Alright,” I agreed.

“Oh, god!” he exclaimed with relief. He wiped a hand across his face and laughed thickly. “Thank you, sir. I won’t ever let you down again. Not for a single second. I mean it.”

“I know.” I believed every word. He wouldn’t want to go through this again. Keaton wasn’t a natural liar. He felt bad about it. I could see now how it had been eating him up.

“I just… I think I just wanted to prove everyone wrong,” he said. I had already changed my mind. He didn’t seem to think that was a reason to stop explaining himself. “After that networking event – you know, the job fair, where we first met – I felt like I needed to prove to people that I could be something. No one hired me. I was just… left out at the end. Like the kid not getting picked for the sports team. And I wanted to shove this in the face of everyone who doubted me. Make them see me and see that I’m special.”

“Some of us know that already,” I said and regretted it immediately.

It was Keaton’s fault. He was speaking so freely. I had only let my own thoughts join the flow of his.

Out loud.

Like an idiot.

Keaton stared at me. “What?” he asked.

I coughed and pulled at my collar. Was it hot in here? Maybe I needed to adjust the thermostat. “We should get back to work,” I said.

“What did you mean by that?” Keaton repeated.

I glanced away. My gaze fell on some of the briefs I had to approve on my desk. Sudden inspiration struck.

“You should have told me from the start that you were interested in filmmaking,” I said. “There are some things that you could be working on.”

Keaton’s eyebrows shot up. That was a good distraction. I was no longer an idiot; I was a genius. “What do you mean?”

“Social media and website content,” I said. “We always need more. We have people in the social media department who work on that kind of thing. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t work alongside them.”

“Like making short videos to post?”

I nodded. “To start with. Perhaps you could work up to corporate films. We normally have to hire freelancers for the really professional videos. It would save us money to use someone in-house.”

“Could I really do that?” Keaton asked. His eyes were shining in a different way now. Excitement. I was offering him something that he had dreamed of. “I mean, my style isn’t all… pretty. Like the social media stuff we normally put out. I’m still a documentarian in style and I don’t know how much I could change that.”

I shook my head. “Gritty is good. Something new. Something authentic.”

Keaton grinned and laughed. He buried his head in his hands for a moment. “I thought you were going to fire me,” he said. “And you’re going to let me make videos instead!”

I cleared my throat. There was too much going on in this room. First I wanted to take him in my arms to stop him crying. Now I wanted to kiss that grin that was spreading across his face.

“We’ll try it,” I said. I needed to inject a note of caution here. “It might not work out.”

“Of course,” Keaton said with a rapid nod. “I don’t want to take advantage – I’ll work the same as anyone else. If it’s not good enough, you just pull the plug. But I’ll really try, I promise I will.”

His face fell.

“What is it now?” I asked in spite of myself. The words came out before I could modulate them. He had been so happy for a brief moment.

“Do you want me to go take a desk near the social media staff?” he asked. The breath caught in his throat. “Should I start the process of hiring a new secretary?”

I straightened up from my desk and took a possessive step towards him. “Absolutely not.”

“No?” Keaton asked. He withered a little. “You want Ace to do it?”

“You are still my secretary,” I insisted. I wanted to reach out and tilt his chin up and make him meet my gaze. I fought to keep my hand still. “You are mine.”

Keaton’s eyes flicked up to mine anyway. “Yours… your… your secretary, right?”

I swallowed. I had said too much. “Yeah. Right.”

Keaton’s eyes lingered on mine and dropped momentarily to my lips before returning. “… What does that mean?”

It was my turn to drop my gaze to his mouth. I lingered there until his cheeks heated with that pink flush I had craved so much. Then my eyes flickered down over the rest of him and back up to his eyes.

Stupid Keaton Dunbar. Stubborn Keaton Dunbar. Sexy Keaton Dunbar with his stupid and stubborn little mouth.

He was mine.

What did I mean by that?

I let go of everything else just for one headstrong moment.

It was time for me to show him.

I stepped forward and pressed my lips against his.

Here ends this week’s chapter! What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts below. I really appreciate your comments - what you like, what you don’t like, and what you’d like to see next.

Progress Report

Note: Changes are in bold, comments in italics.

TOTAL SALES:

Don’t Move Out: ebook - 742, paperback - 8, KU pages read - 359,625 (238 pages = 1,511 equivalent full-book reads), free downloads - 6,304 - ebook sales actually went backwards by 1 this week due to a refund. Usually when I see a refund like this, it correlates with my book going up for free on yet another piracy site. yay.
Don’t Go Outside: ebook - 117, paperback - 6, KU pages read - 144,305 (222 pages = 650 equivalent full-book reads)
Don’t Fly Home: ebook - 64, paperback - 4, KU pages read - 87,944 (224 pages = 392 equivalent full-book reads)
Don’t Leave Town: ebook - 65, paperback - 4, KU pages read - 62,528 (299 pages = 209 equivalent full-book reads)
Don’t Check Out: ebook - 55, paperback - 2, KU pages read - 34,462 (192 pages = 179 equivalent full-book reads)
CC 1-5 Boxset: KU pages read - 15,148 (1,068 pages = 14 equivalent full-set reads)
Don’t Move Your Desk: ebook - 17, paperback - 1
Serial Investigations full series (Pre-Substack releases: books 1-12, 2 bonus novellas, 2 boxsets): ebook - 483, paperback/hardback - 68, KU pages read - 371,973, free downloads - 546

WRITING:

Don’t Move Your Desk - written and edited fully, serialisation underway, all chapters queued up ready, ebook and paperback on sale
Kiss The Cook cover revealed, ebook ready, planning to launch preorder very soon, typeset done for paperback - for the first time ever, I’m doing a custom typeset for the paperback which looks SO cool - more details to be shared when we get there
Cook Up A Storm: full plot done, third draft done! - All I need now is a beta draft - see last week’s post if you’re interested in signing up to beta read for me!
(Books 8+): 8 covers, themes, and titles done, Crowhill Kitchen release schedule and titles announced, all Kitchen characters created and romances/interpersonal relationships between books set up, all Club characters created and romances/interpersonal relationships between books set up, deep thoughts occurring about the potential next serial with a few choices on offer

SUBSTACK:

Subscribers: free - 62, paid - 2 plus 2 free trials
Followers: 251

By the way, please like this post if you enjoyed it and would like to see more! This helps me decide what to do for future content.

XO Rhiannon

Crowhill Cove

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