When it comes to sexy, possessive, hopelessly smitten leading men, no one comes even close in my eyes to the one and only Rush Finlay. I don’t know what it is about this particular character, whether it’s the bad-boy-turned-devoted-boyfriend scenario, or simply his dirty mouth that never stops leaving me speechless, but I have been obsessed with him ever since he put a roof over a penniless young woman’s head and then ended up spending every waking moment trying not to fall in love with her. And failing oh-so gloriously. We’ve heard Rush and Blaire’s entire story—we saw their fated first meeting, we watched them falling for one another, against a lifetime of odds, fighting for their happy ending and finally finding it—but we never got a chance to dive into Rush’s mind and see the beginnings of their epic love story through his eyes. Until now. A perfect addition to an already perfect series, this book filled all the gaps, answered every question, and it only cemented my Rush Crush.
“I don’t know what this is that is going on between us, but from the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were going to change my world.”
The son of a famous rock star, Rush Finlay is the embodiment of every woman’s wildest dreams. But one night of wild passion is all that any woman has ever gotten from him. Having watched his mother discard husbands all throughout his childhood, and his philandering father use women for one thing and one thing alone, Rush’s perception of relationships has always been warped, the mere idea of bedding one woman for the rest of his life never even crossing his mind. And then one day a blue-eyed angel walks into his life, and makes him question every single thing he has ever believed in.
“I’ve been with a lot of girls, Blaire. Trust me, I’ve never met one as f*cking perfect as you.”
Torn between his growing feelings for Blaire and his loyalty to his only sister, we finally get to see the turmoil raging in this young man’s heart and mind when forced to re-evaluate his priorities in life. We have always known the depth of his devotion to his sister Nan, as heartless as she may appear to others, but in this book, we are offered an intimate insight into their shared childhood, into the events that made him her only protector and shoulder to cry on in life. Their bond becomes real in our eyes, we almost feel for her (or maybe it is just me…) in light of her dysfunctional and ultimately traumatic upbringing, but most importantly, we finally shed light onto how powerful his predicament truly is and how much he is willing to sacrifice for the woman he loves.
“It was like she’d become the sun, and I’d started revolving around her. She was my center.”
Rush’s feelings for Blaire are as undeniable as they are troublesome to him. He fights them from the moment she walks into his house, her innocence and naiveté beaconing him to her and making him feel increasingly protective of her. Their romance assumes new dimensions once we get to know his thoughts during and around every well known scene, and to me personally, reading this story once again felt like I was reading it for the very first time. It felt fresh, more profound, and surprisingly engaging given the male point of view. The “peanut butter sandwich” scene alone, seen through his eyes this time around, felt even more heart-wrenching and intense, reminding me why I fell in love with Abbi Glines’ writing style in the first place, and why these characters resonated with me so strongly.
“She was living off f*cking peanut butter.”
This is not just a book for the fans of the series. This is a book for anyone who seeks an emotional escape in their fiction, a way of letting their naughty fantasies run wild while their hearts beg for mercy. A stellar conclusion to a beloved storyline, but I will give you one piece of advice—have Never Too Far handy once you start turning those last few pages…
“I didn’t want to hurt her. Yet I would be her biggest heartbreak.”
Excerpt
Could you not be good for just one kiss? Please? Those words had kept me up all damn night. How the hell I’d walked out of that little room I had no idea. I had to stop this. I couldn’t let her in any more. She didn’t know the truth. I had to protect her. My feelings for her were already too dangerous.
As much as I wanted to tell her about Nan, I couldn’t. She’d hate me and I was too far gone now. I couldn’t live with Blaire hating me. At least not this soon. I wasn’t ready for her to leave me. I glanced back over my shoulder at the closed pantry door. Last night, Blaire’s parting comments about her being the unwelcomed guest had pissed me off. I was changing that. Maybe I wasn’t ready to move her upstairs yet, but I would feed her. I wasn’t sure what she was eating in the mornings, but since she was sleeping in late today, I had time to make her breakfast.
The pantry door opened behind me, and I glanced back again to see Blaire staring at me with a surprised look on her face. We hadn’t ended things well last night. This morning, I was going to change that.
“Good morning. Must be your day off.”
She didn’t move and gave me a forced smile. “Smells good.”
“Get out two plates. I make some killer bacon.” I was going to soften her up. I knew she was still mad at me for leaving her last night, but dammit, I hadn’t done it for her. Not me.
“I’ve already eaten, but thank you,” she said, then bit down on her lower lip as she looked longingly at the bacon. What the hell was that all about? And when had she eaten? I’d been up for two hours, and she hadn’t been out of her room.
I set down the fork I was using and focused on her instead of the bacon. “How have you already eaten? You just woke up.” I watched her carefully in case she decided not to tell me the complete truth. If this was about her not wanting to eat in front of me or some ridiculous girl issue like that, she was going to have to get over it.
“I keep peanut butter and bread in my room. I had some before I came out.”
What the hell did she just say? “Why do you keep peanut butter and bread in your room?” I asked.
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