Is adding a parallel word that only intersects the end letter of an existing word allowed in Scrabble?
The play you describe is both legal and generally easier to do than the multi-cross play you cite as a rules example.

The general rules relevant here are that, first, all the letters for a single play must be in a single line, either vertical or horizontal, and second, that all tiles adjacent to another tile (vertically or horizontally) must be part of a permissible words in each direction of adjacency.  Finally, at least one tile of any new play must be adjacent to a tile already played (except the first play of a new game, for which one tile must be on the pink star center square).