How do make a professional connection with someone who assumes I want something more?

[Old Mister Happy]

Yes, just let it go. Contacting someone expressly so they can help you get a job where they work, is just a bit pushy to me, anyway. If you were all that close before, why would one want to go out of their way to get you into the same company where they work, and put their own reputation on the line.

If you were serious in using his position to help yourself, it should have been done in a formal business letter to him at his office.